Is Falcone an idiot or did he just get screwed?

[Pekelo]

Well, how to lose 14 billion or die keep trying:

"Wall Street guru Philip Falcone placed a $14 billion bet on what he thought was a sure thing. Two years ago, his company had the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission to use satellites to bring cellular service to the farthest reaches of the country, a high priority for President Obama.
Today, the FCC has put the project on ice, all but killing it. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ip-falcone/2012/04/05/gIQAr4EQyS_story_1.html


The issues are a bit complicated but I think this response summarize them correctly:

"No, the government does not owe Lightsquared anything.

What the article neglected to mention was that Falcone bought spectrum in the low-power satellite portion of the spectrum and then tried to exploit a loophole to transmit high-powered, ground-based signals on that spectrum. This is not some minor technical hitch, it is fundamental to both the problem and Lightsquared's business model.

This is like buying a residential lot, trying to build a landfill on the property, and then crying politics when your permit gets yanked because the neighbors rightly point out that your dump will spill over onto their land."

 

[Eight]

Really? GPS manufacturers are allocated certain spectrum but they designed their receivers so that the front ends don't filter enough from the adjacent spectrum. Lightsquared's spectrum was adjacent to the GPS spectrum and they stepped right into that low-quality garbage pile. The government could have looked into that before they made any decisions with regard to Lightsquared but they were sickeningly asleep at the switch... They could have told the GPS clowns to tighten up their equipment and they could have allowed Lightsquared to hold the spectrum until it was usable.. so the GPS industry did things the American Way: they produced some junk, sold it, and used their influence over the government to win the ensuing battles.. All of industry in the US is in that mode, whether it's food, electronics, cars... it's always the same.. Apple is about the only quality oriented company based in the US that I can think of and I'm pleasantly surprised to see them doing so well.

 

[atticus]

DirecTV looked at Falcone's spectrum in ~2004 and immediately gave-up on it due to the interference with GPS. The spectrum was cheap (relatively) for good reason.

Falcone is fcuked.

 

[rew]

Moral of the story: There are no $14 billion sure things.

 

[atticus]

The $14B was fantasy; what Falcone estimated the spectrum to be worth. He's invested $3B in light^2.

 

[keeptradin']

Quote from Eight:

Apple is about the only quality oriented company based in the US that I can think of and I'm pleasantly surprised to see them doing so well.

It's a shame when the highest quality company in the USA relies on goods made in Asian sweatshops under near slave-labor conditions to remain profitable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/b...ges-in-working-conditions.html?pagewanted=all

Let's hope there will be a sincere effort to remedy the situation, instead of a repeat of the previous initiatives that Apple has made.

 

[atticus]

Quote from keeptradin':

It's a shame when the highest quality company in the USA relies on goods made in Asian sweatshops under near slave-labor conditions to remain profitable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/b...ges-in-working-conditions.html?pagewanted=all

Let's hope there will be a sincere effort to remedy the situation, instead of a repeat of the previous initiatives that Apple has made.

It is what it is. All multinational corps outsource, save for the defense sector. Apple is a design firm.

 

[atticus]

Quote from keeptradin':

It's a shame when the highest quality company in the USA relies on goods made in Asian sweatshops under near slave-labor conditions to remain profitable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/b...ges-in-working-conditions.html?pagewanted=all

Let's hope there will be a sincere effort to remedy the situation, instead of a repeat of the previous initiatives that Apple has made.

It is what it is. All multinational corps outsource to China, save for the defense sector. Apple is a design firm.

 

[Martinghoul]

I agree w/John Hempton (as usual)... Falcone was trying to exploit a loophole and it didn't work out. He gambled and lost.

http://brontecapital.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lightsquared-some-comments.html

 

[Busta21]

Pretty amazing the amount of risk some of these guys are able to take on. You have to respect that, I could only imagine the amount of stress/sacrifices that are made managing that kind of money.