Archive for March 6th, 2009

Want to buy 36 radio stations for $1,000?

Friday, March 6th, 2009

That’s for all 36 stations, not for each one.  Details here

Davidson Media group had acquired these stations over time – they mostly low power stations in small markets in the Southeastern US – carrying Spanish language programs or gospel music.

Sanjay Sanghoee has stepped forward and agreed to pay $1,000 to buy the entire company – AND responsilbity for the $2 billion in debt that was used to acquire these stations.

Who is he?  Here is his description from the web site for his novel about corporate crime and corruption.

“Sanjay has an MBA from Columbia Business School and was an investment banker with Lazard Freres and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. He also worked from 1992-1995 with Strategic Intelligence Network, Inc., a spinoff from Kroll Associates. During his time with SINI, he was involved in all facets of corporate investigative work, including liaising with ex-law enforcement officers to conduct due diligence on business transactions.”

and his book was about:

“Set in the secretive world of multi-billion dollar mergers and ruthless plays for money and power, Merger takes readers behind the closed doors of Wall Street to witness the shocking dealings of corrupt CEOs and unethical bankers who violate the public trust for their personal gain – similar to the real-life incidents at Enron and WorldCom. ”

Feel free to connect any dots you see.

GE Credit watch

Friday, March 6th, 2009

Bloomberg Story

Back when I was in college in the mid 1970s, I was taught that General Electric was a good substitute for the entire US Stock Market (this was long before SPDRs and index mutual funds).  GE had their hands in so many different businesses that it was as diversified as a single company could get.  One of the things GE owns is NBC Telemundo, which owns MSNBC, which Keith Obermann owns.

Another thing GE does (through GE Capital)  is invests money in commercial real estate, home mortgages and investments in Eastern Europe, which is falling apart faster than the United States.  One of the strategies GE Capital has to keep itself “cash flow positive” is to raise the rent rates on its empty shopping centers and vacant office space.

Back before it was apparent that Candidate Obama would become President, GE’s common stock was trading around $36 a share.  It’s now around $6 a share.  If GE goes under, the fat lady is truly singing.  Good job Mr Obermann.

FDIC to borrow its way to solvency

Friday, March 6th, 2009

The “solution” to the FDIC being insolvent is for the US Treasury to loan the FDIC $500 billion (It currently insures around $4 trillion sitting in bank accounts – probably more by now)

The problem with this?  The total revenue the FDIC raises by assessing a fee to banks on their insured deposit accounts is $2 billion a year.  It takes a long time to pay back $500 billion at $2 billion a year.

To dig the hole deeper, part of the mortgage cram-down bill’s language (probably to blackmail the American Banker’s Association into supporting it) is making the “temporary” insurance limit raise from $100k to $250k per account permanent.

The stupidity and unintended consequences continue.