plans

Harbinger-Backed LightSquared Plans To Not Cause ‘Devastating’ GPS Interference Moving Forward

By Bess Levin

Not letting Phil Falcone’s LightSquared proceed using its authorized spectrum “would doom an innovative American start-up company,” LightSquared said in its FCC filing. “The commercial GPS device industry wants the commission to shut down an unprecedented effort to establish a nationwide wireless broadband network.” LightSquared’s plan to limit its initial operation to its airwaves furthest from GPS uses would pose no risk to more than 99 percent of GPS users, and the company is offering to underwrite “a workable solution for the small number” of GPS devices “that may be at risk,” the company said in its filing…“This issue will be resolved by good data, smart engineers and good-faith problem-solving dialog,” Sanjiv Ahuja, the company’s chief executive officer, said in a news release. [Bloomberg]

Related: Harbinger Capital Will Pay Redemptions…In Illiquid LightSquared Equity

  • 29 Jun 2011 at 11:58 AM

Obama Wants Hedge Fund Managers And ‘Corporate Jet Owners’ To Do Their Part To Help Bring Down The Deficit

By Bess Levin

Tax breaks for the wealthy, corporate jet owners, hedge fund managers and oil and gas companies should be scrapped to help reduce the deficit, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. Republicans are insisting that tax increases stay off the table in ongoing talks to get a deal to raise the debt ceiling. But at a news conference Obama said revenue has to be in the mix. [MarketWatch]

  • 20 Jun 2011 at 2:44 PM

Harbinger Capital-Backed LightSquared Says It Has Come Up With A Solution That Might Work Re: “Devastating Interference”

By Bess Levin

Several weeks ago, it was reported that government tests indicated LightSquared, Phil Falcone’s big bet in the sky, would cause “devastating interference” to all GPS devices in range. Then last Thursday, the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Systems Engineering Forum said the venture would “degrade global-positioning system navigation devices that are nearby and as far away as outer space.” LightSquared, shares of which Harbinger Capital investors will receive should they have requested their cash back from the fund, says do not worry, though, because they’ve got a plan. Continue reading »

  • 16 Aug 2010 at 4:30 PM

Nouriel Roubini Warns Against Next Generation Of Gordon Gekkos, Promotes Wall Street Sequel

By Bess Levin

Sayeth the Doctor:

In the 1987 film Wall Street, the character Gordon Gekko famously declared, “Greed is good.” His creed became the ethos of a decade of corporate and financial-sector excesses that ended in the late 1980’s collapse of the junk-bond market and the Savings & Loan crisis. Gekko himself was packed off to prison. A generation later, the sequel to Wall Street – to be released next month [which yours truly has a cameo in, thank you very much]– sees Gekko released from jail and returned to the financial world. His reappearance comes just as the credit bubble fueled by the sub-prime mortgage boom is about to burst [my trailer had a sign that said 'if this economist is a rockin' don't come a knockin'], triggering the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression [The extras. My god, the extras. I thought I had it good with my NYU groupies]. The “Greed is good” mentality is a regular feature of financial crises [These Hollywood chicks are, like, crazy horny]. But were the traders and bankers of the sub-prime saga more greedy, arrogant, and immoral than the Gekkos of the 1980’s? [Oliver told me stories but nothing really prepares you.] Not really, because greed and amorality in financial markets have been common throughout the ages. [Seriously, though, everybody buy a ticket so they make a third one of these. I need this.]

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