When oceanliners collide serious damage is the result. No real winner emerges. Everyone left living is a survivor not a winner. The Hill can be that way.
Today the market share’s the limelight with Washington. Trouble is in the wind. Presently the courts and congressional subcommittees are playing an out-sized role in the equities world. Harvard dropout mega-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg today faces a force unknown to him. What’s that? A power greater than Facebook, one capable of laying down the law.
Both AT&T and Facebook are courting the powers that be. The Powers are currently determining the future shape of both. In the meantime the shares of each will daily face the hype, the hope, the fear, and the indecision of investors. How many will simply remove themselves from the risk? We did.
AT&T is now doing the Octagon with the feds–oceanliners facing off. Does anyone willingly walk into a title cage match? We did. Like rubes we thought we could hide out some volatility in T. We thought we would shrewdly pick up that fat 5.4% kicker for our trouble. Huh?
The volatility of the markets forces investors to reconsider, with many rapidly dumping risk and repositioning for a storm. We did that yesterday.
Jim Cramer has clearly provided directives for those facing market storms; raise cash, in part by reducing overall exposure, and dumping “battle ground” stocks on strength. And that does not translate into cutting your flowers and keeping your weeds.
Any resolution for at&t will prove long in coming. Between now and any such resolution one must reasonably expect numerous risk points. This lawsuit is political, involves the largest entities, and is thus high-profile, and risky. Consider how many possible price-hits T might take between now and the suit’s conclusion.
All publicity may prove good for celebrities, but not so for major corporations. That includes gigantic lawsuits.
Risk management is a gift to investors. All risk is not created equal. No smart company goes to court if they can prosper without. Grabbing the wolf by the ears is only bright if you have no real option. Is that what T is saying by this suit?
Regardless of at&t’s view, or the integrity of their plan, investors who stay are signed up for a potentially long, expensive, hyper-public, high-stakes, saga. Why? Fact. Most market darlings simply do not face this lengthy dark minefield of risk. We opted out.
S. vs. Microsoft is the true version of the “Transformers.” Back in 1992 the DOJ under Janet Reno began an investigation of MSFT for possible antitrust violations. The case focused around Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer with its Window OS.
Relic–like the Windows phone.
Cologne
The unavoidable moral to the story is that going to court is always a risk. Lawsuits are to be avoided, when other options exist. AT&T obviously feels Time-Warner will provide a future that justify’s the inevitable disruption and risk.
In a healthy society the Department of Justice should have waited to sue MSFT over Windows 8. That they have a cruelty statute?
AT&T may be right, but the journey will prove resplendently dangerous. The battle also may take some time. The DOJ began investigating MSFT in 1992. The entire mess reached a resolution nine years later on November 1, 2001.
Soon we’ll be able to ask Mark about dealing with the feds. Yesterday and for the very first time, Zuckerberg actually began to realize that government is real and does have the juice. Today Mark’s yet up on capitol hill, answering what? Federal questions, asked by people who actually have the power to do something Facebook can’t deny.
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