OK, I am adding this article to chronicle the CRAZY stuff I have done because I felt like there was a possibility GOD was leading me to. I bought a couple thousand shares of Sirius stock even though everyone was saying last week you needed to sell it and that it would be filing for bankruptcy and that it had already done the paperwork for the filing.
So, without saying a thing to anyone, I both kept and made investments in the soon to fail firm. As you can see in the article, an eleventh hour decision by Direct TV owners infused needed credit and loans for the company allowing them the capital needed to make it until 2012!
This morning before I had even gotten to work, my investment had doubled and will likely continue to grow. If they even make it through this market downturn due to the fact that they are the ONLY provider of these services, I have a feeling that I will be making a pretty return on this ridiculous investment. Now, I may not keep them that long, but I will definitely realize a return on this one!!!! And it could be pretty hefty! GO JESUS!
It just goes to show that prayer makes more sense than research at this point. Now, this is NOT my advice for those investing out there. This was just one of those crazy things that the LORD led me to do personally.
Go Figure!
pd
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Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Sirius XM Radio Inc., the satellite broadcaster, will receive $530 million in loans from John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. in exchange for board seats and an equity stake, avoiding a bankruptcy filing.
Sirius XM will first get $280 million and use part of the financing to repay convertible bonds due today, the companies said in a statement. Liberty also agreed to offer to purchase as much as $100 million in outstanding loans and to lend New York- based Sirius XM an additional $150 million. Sirius XM rose 72 percent to 18 cents at 12:25 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
The company, run by Mel Karmazin, said Feb. 13 it might have to file for bankruptcy as soon as today if it couldn’t reach an agreement to restructure its debt. The bonds due today are held by Charles Ergen’s EchoStar Corp., which had been buying Sirius XM debt after the broadcaster rejected its unsolicited bid, according to a person familiar with the plan.
“Sirius is in the process of getting out of the woods because Liberty is putting up a lot of money,” David Joyce, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co., said in an interview today. “It shows that Sirius will be around for a long time.”
Joyce, based in New York, recommends investors sell the shares and doesn’t own any.
Sirius XM has about $3.25 billion in total debt. U.S. auto sales have slumped in the past months, cutting demand for radios pre-installed in cars.
Sirius XM’s $230 million of convertible 3.25 percent notes due in 2011 rose 6 cents to 48 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-pricing service of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The bonds traded at 17.9 cents on Feb. 2.
Media Billionaires
Karmazin, 65, pitted Malone and Ergen, two media billionaires based in Englewood, Colorado, against each other to save the company he formed seven months earlier. Through Liberty, Malone controls DirecTV Group Inc., the largest U.S. satellite-TV broadcaster. EchoStar is the satellite-equipment company separated from Ergen’s Dish Network Corp., DirecTV’s rival.
The agreement allows Karmazin to keep his job as CEO. A group of Sirius XM creditors said yesterday it planned to seek his removal if the company filed for bankruptcy instead of making a deal to remain solvent.
The loan, secured by Sirius XM’s assets, will have an interest rate of 15 percent and mature in December 2012. After the second loan is completed, Sirius XM will issue Liberty 12.5 million shares in preferred stock convertible into 40 percent of Sirius XM common stock. Sirius XM will pay Liberty $7 million in termination fees if its board ends the deal.
Malone on Board
Malone and Liberty Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei will join Sirius XM’s board. Liberty agreed not to buy more than 49.9 percent of its outstanding common stock for three years, according to a regulatory filing.
UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest investment bank, advised Liberty on the deal. JPMorgan Chase & Co., based in New York, and Evercore Partners Inc. advised Sirius XM.
Karmazin completed the merger of Sirius and XM, the only two U.S. pay-radio providers, in July, after the credit-market crisis took hold. The stock has traded for less than $1 a share since September as investors became concerned that Karmazin wouldn’t be able to manage the debt or meet growth projections.
Over the decades, Malone and Ergen have competed for customers and companies. In 2003, Ergen, 55, abandoned a bid for DirecTV’s then-parent company, Hughes Electronics Corp.
Malone gained control of DirecTV last year after buying out News Corp.’s stake. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. had bought the stake in 2003, after Ergen dropped his bid on DirecTV’s parent company because he couldn’t get regulatory approval.
Sirius XM, which lured customers with programs including talk-show host Howard Stern and the National Football League, has more than 18.9 million subscribers.
Ergen’s Dish Network had 13.8 million customers as of Sept. 30, trailing DirecTV’s 17.3 million.