Can Turtles Fly?

I haven't talked him in a long time but even I am surprised by the boldness of it all. Phil Falcone, the contrarian investor whom I had likened to Wilbur Ross , is turning into someone else. In bold move that could make or break his reputation, Phil Falcone is betting as much as 40% of his partners' funds in LightSquared, a company trying to provide 4G wireless communications throughout America. The goal is to provide wholesale wireless services through a network of terrestial towers and orbiting satellites. Reuters has a lengthy story on Phil Falcone : Harbinger's two main investment funds are the owners of LightSquared, an upstart Reston, Virginia-based telecom company that plans to use two orbiting satellites to bring high-speed Internet service to some 260 million in the U.S. by 2015. Roughly $3 billion or 40 percent of Harbinger's assets are tied-up in LightSquared, say people familiar with the funds. Formerly known as SkyTerra Communications, the telecom co...

Too Sullivan of ValuePlays is of the opinion that short-sellers get a slight advantage from the fact that they do not have to disclose their positions (Todd has no problem with short-selling itself (neither do I)). I am not too sure if the lack of disclosure is much of an advantage but Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator in Britain, is forcing short-sellers with sizeable positions to disclose their positions in a rights offering (thanks to WSJ Deal Journal for original mention): The Financial Services Authority shocked the trading community a fortnight ago when it announced that investors would be compelled to disclose short positions of more than 0.25 per cent of share capital in companies carrying out rights issues. The announcements started on Friday, and continued yesterday with 20 investors, predominantly hedge funds, disclosing short positions in seven companies that are in the process of carrying out rights issues. The article also mentions a familiar name with ...

"It's a little like a brick coming through your window..." -- Marshall Morton, Media General CEO, on Phil Falcone's Move (source: April 2008 BusinessWeek) When it comes to vulture investors, Wilbur Ross is arguably one of the best of all time. Well, this BusinessWeek article makes me think that Phil Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners is going to be the next Wilbur Ross. The article makes for a good casul read (thanks to DaveinHackensack for the original mention in a gurufocus.com message board post.) Here is an excerpt: (source: The Midas of Misery , by Emily Thornton. April 24, 2008. BusinessWeek) Falcone is a Midas of Misery. With $19 billion—nearly 760 times the grubstake he started out with seven years ago—he is snapping up troubled assets in bankruptcy, shorting distressed bonds, and using huge stock positions to agitate for change at underperforming companies. His holdings read like a who's who of market castoffs: media companies, utilities, and steelma...