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To: djane who wrote (5737)	7/15/1999 1:42:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 29987

CNBC Squawk Box this morning. Cramer said he didn't like the MOT earnings report because of their "Iridium problem" -- "$5 billion phone company on which 10,000 people talk." He noted that I* is paying MOT a huge amount of money and wondered if I* has any money to pay MOT. He laughed and said, "Iridiots hate me for having a phone which didn't work on the tarmac" in the Bahamas. Haines, "Iridiots?" Cramer said Iridiots are "people who get mad at you because your phone doesn't work." Faber noted that MOT is a large I* shareholder and has contracts to build out its infrastructure and phones. He said there is a large question about how they are going to financially restructure I* because the subscriber ramp up has been far less than expected. Cramer pitched in, "There's not enough people climbing Mount Everest. They've got to do more Everest tours to get I* going." Kernan and Faber noted the problems facing I* equity holders based the I* bonds trading and banks' belief that they won't get their money back. [Note: djane personally likes Cramer and has learned lots from him but understands the antipathy felt by many towards him.]

To: djane who wrote (5737)	7/15/1999 1:44:00 AM
From: djane	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29987

Bloomberg. Iridium Shares Plunge (via I* yahoo thread) July 15, 1999 By BLOOMBERG NEWS ASHINGTON -- Shares of Iridium World Communications Ltd., whose parent company runs the first global satellite-telephone network, fell 18 percent Wednesday after Motorola Inc. said it would not invest more money in the system unless other investors and lenders did the same. Shares of Iridium World, the publicly traded arm of Iridium L.L.C., fell $1.4375, to $6.75, on trading of 4.7 million shares, almost three times the three-month daily average. The shares have fallen 89 percent over the last year. Motorola, the maker of cellular phones, is the biggest investor in Iridium L.L.C., with an 18 percent stake. Motorola said on Tuesday that it took a second-quarter charge of $126 million to write down the value of Iridium's bonds, which have fallen about 80 percent this year as the company struggled to attract customers. "Motorola is not going to bail out Iridium," said William Kidd, an analyst at C.E. Unterberg Towbin. "Some may have bought Iridium thinking the stock was going to be rescued. Based on Motorola's announcement, I don't think those plans are in the works." Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Ill., was one of Iridium's founders in 1987 and built the 66 satellites that make up the telephone network. Motorola has guaranteed at least $1.67 billion in Iridium financing. Iridium L.L.C. is 86 percent-owned by 19 investors, which also include the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the Raytheon Company, the Sprint Corporation and American International Group Inc. Iridium World Communications, based in Washington, owns the remaining 14 percent. Iridium has been unable to attract enough subscribers to pay its bills because of the high cost of its phones and high per-minute charges.