In a company in the midst of coronavirus-caused bankruptcy, where stockholders are likely to be wiped out, there are weird signs of life—worthless stock ticking up, an equity offering. But betting on an undead company is a very bad idea.
The pandemic and its economic consequences have occasioned any number of counterintuitive events in the financial markets. There has been Herbalife’s $600 million junk bond deal that the company used to buy back some of the stock of the company’s largest shareholder, the multibillionaire Carl Icahn. There have been the other billionaires who have raised hundreds of millions of dollars of new equity from investors through SPACs—special purpose acquisition companies—on the whiff of a hope that the money will be invested wisely. There has been Boeing’s much-needed and successful $25 billion capital raise and its decision to fire 10% of its workforce.
William D. Cohan | Vanity Fair