Warning – I strongly recommend against trading in any security mentioned in this article. The volatility is enormous and the problem fluid. The stocks aren’t being driven by basic principles… The recommendations in this post are created in a somewhat funny manner. I am horrified – despite this caution at least one individual has thought that the trade should be positioned. Please, take this warning seriously. I have no position.
There was once a fine American sports car company called Stutz. It made beautiful – even famous cars. The motor cars had a reputation for dependability, reliability, and punishing speed. I know they look antique – but these were really quick for their day – plus they won big races like Indianapolis and the Le Mans 24-hour competition. Le Mans (at least) is an event that Porsche loves to win. Stutz was managed by Alan Aloysius Ryan through family holdings Anyway.
For reasons, mainly to do with improved mass creation by competitors the business found itself under great pressure. Short sellers could smell blood. And they shorted the stock. And shorted even more. Through this Alan Aloysius Ryan stood firm, buying stock when he could (possibly through options and concealed holding companies therefore the shorts could not see what he previously did). He did this until he announced 1 day in 1920 that he owned 105 percent of the business and the pants could settle with him on his terms.
His conditions were a price so high that it could bankrupt broker dealers who got stood as intermediaries between the stock market and shorts. Well, to place it bluntly the financial market and regulators defended their own. The story is told here and here and here and within the brand-new York Times – and the levels of money involved were monstrous for the time. Eventually the New York Stock Exchange -with the threat of criminal proceedings – arbitrarily decided a price to stay the short positions. The pants even got a sanctioned “protective committee” officially. That price was way below the very best price that Ryan paid – but a lot more than the intrinsic value.
- Securing the Application
- 1 Gather documents
- Next SAARC Meeting is kept where
- Show full dedication to your business
The shorts – well – except those that shorted right at the end – lost money. Ryan wound up paying too much for a motor car company which was slowly declining anyhow. As he now possessed 100 percent of Stutz his debts got intertwined with the automobile company and both he and the automobile company proceeded to go bust.
Some family got a little out but only by suing other family members. The only winners were common longs of Stutz who sold on the way – or even at the ultimate settlement price. As it’s likely you have guessed this looks familiar horribly. Porsche is now firmly in control of Volkswagen – and they achieved it with non-standard cash settled options and other activities they argue that they did not need to disclose.
It looks and has the aroma of market manipulation – and Volkswagen – General Motors for Europe – may be – depending on the time of day – the largest company in the world by market cap. Now I believe Porsche is one of the fantastic businesses of the world. They have convinced middle-aged richer Americans, they are more appealing – or at least more fun – if they drive that particular fast car.
Porsche – like Stutz before it – managed to make its tag with near-production vehicles in events like Le Mans. In the automobile world there are just two-car companies with margins near 10 percent – Porsche and Toyota. Plus they got there various ways. Porsche (the business) is having a rough time at this time because if you haven’t noticed the willingness of middle-aged American men to drop 100K on a car is somewhat reduced lately.
But that might be temporary. Porsche is an organization I want to love – a very fine consumer brands company masquerading as a car company. And it is not expensive at the moment – if you back out there holding of Volkswagen especially. Indeed its holding of Volkswagen will probably be worth many times Porsche’s market cap – making Porsche one of the cheapest stocks in the world. But if history is helpful information for the Porsche and its own controlling family will go just how of the Ryans. Their behavior doesn’t look any more legal than Alan Aloysius Ryan – and that wound up with him – and his company bankrupt.
The system has a knack of defending itself – and the family that controls Porsche and indeed the Porsche company itself is just as expendable as Alan A Ryan. I began this post with a warning – which was that no one should play any security involved with this tale – and I wish to stick with this caution. But if you would like to play – and it aches me to say it – the only responsible trade is to short Porsche. Porsche – the business – and possibly the car – like Stutz before it – will probably get limited to the dustbin of history.