Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (59043)	5/28/1999 11:36:00 AM
From: Jan Crawley	Respond to of 164684

Thinking of shorting from 58 all the way to 60. Well, it's only $53+ right now, so you must be talking tomorrows? I am holding Intc long long shares. But I wrote Jul 50 puts and will write Jul or Aug65 cover calls too. Normally I go for $4+ premium.

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (59043)	5/28/1999 11:42:00 AM
From: Sarmad Y. Hermiz	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>> I want to short INTC so bad, I can taste it! Please tell me you're joking. I am holding 1500. With Intel, aren't they in a much better competitive position, now that AMD and Cyrix are doing so badly ?

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (59043)	5/28/1999 12:50:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

>>I want to short INTC << If you must short, short Mot, they're up to their with the Iridium fiasco. >> New York, May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Iridium LLC, which runs the first global satellite-based telephone network, said it's still trying to restructure its debt and avoid a bankruptcy filing in the event it defaults on $800 million in bank loans. Iridium has until Monday to meet revenue and subscriber totals required by the loans' covenants, and it isn't close. It's chief executive, financial chief and marketing chief all have left in the past two months. ''We're working on a restructuring rather than considering bankruptcy or anything like that,'' said Iridium's new chief financial officer, Leo Mondale. Shares of Iridium World Communications Ltd., the company's public investment entity, have fallen 84 percent in the past year. They rose 1 1/4, or 17 percent, to 8 13/16 after Mondale's comments. Iridium's 14 percent bonds due 2005 rose about 4 points, or $40 per $1000 bond, traders said. Still, at a price of 23, they've declined about 76 percent this year. ''An agreement with debt holders might be difficult when you have $3 billion of debt and very little revenue,'' said William Kidd, an analyst at C.E. Unterberg, Townbin, who has a ''hold'' rating on the stock. ''There's a big difference between desiring to restructure the debt and the capacity to service the debt.'' Washington-based Iridium said two weeks ago it hired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. to restructure its debt. Chase Manhattan Corp. and Barclays Plc are Iridium's lead commercial bankers. ''We will soon be coming out to the public market with a proposal with regard to our high-yield bonds,'' Mondale said. He declined to provide more specifics. Pricing At the same time, Iridium has revised revenue targets and plans to reduce the prices of the phones and the service, Mondale said. Iridium's telephones allow callers to place or take calls from practically any spot on earth though a constellation of 66 low earth-orbit satellites and conventional cellular telephone networks. Analysts have criticized some Iridium phones for their unwieldy size -- almost as big as a brick -- as well as their $3,000 price tag. Competing systems, such as the Global System for Mobile Telecommunications, or GSM, don't cover as much of the globe, yet the phones cost $199. Iridium also charges customers $1 to $8 per minute to use its phones, compared with less than $1 per minute for many GSM calls. 'Breathing Room' ''We have developed a realistic revenue forecast,'' Mondale said. ''I can't reveal exactly the magnitude of it, but I will say that it's one that we have a very high confidence of achieving. It is one that leaves us with a viable business, albeit one that needs some more breathing room to build up to the revenue levels that we need to service our capital structure right now.'' Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 maker of cellular telephones, owns about 19 percent of Iridium. Its shares fell 1 15/16 to 80 1/16. Mondale, speaking at an investment conference in New York, said Iridium ''can't eliminate'' bankruptcy as a possibility for the company, though he expressed optimism it will be successful. ''The fact that I'm here today ought to be indicative that I think we will still be operating next week,'' Mondale said. Iridium, which is 19 percent-owned by Motorola, had debt of about $3.02 billion as of March 31. In the event of bankruptcy, banks are the first to be repaid, bondholders are second and equity holders are last. Iridium so far has used about $883 million of Motorola's financial guarantees, Motorola said earlier this month.