Mesa Files Bankruptcy...

[Midnight Flyer]

Ha ha..yeah, I guess I'm showing my age. A "tool" is something laying on my workbench out in the shop.

 

[Andy Neill]

Here's what I don't understand. Why doesn't some cold-hearted corporate raider with the $14 million to invest short term buy Mesa, and shut the doors? It has a book value of nearly $5 a share (including $112 million in stock equity and $33 million in retained earnings). Even if the stock value were dropped to zero, you would still have a $33 million minus $14 million = $19 million profit.

 

[Tarzan]

Here's what I don't understand. Why doesn't some cold-hearted corporate raider with the $14 million to invest short term buy Mesa, and shut the doors? It has a book value of nearly $5 a share (including $112 million in stock equity and $33 million in retained earnings). Even if the stock value were dropped to zero, you would still have a $33 million minus $14 million = $19 million profit.

I am sure there a couple of regionals looking at it right now.

 

[Soverytired]

Here's what I don't understand. Why doesn't some cold-hearted corporate raider with the $14 million to invest short term buy Mesa, and shut the doors? It has a book value of nearly $5 a share (including $112 million in stock equity and $33 million in retained earnings). Even if the stock value were dropped to zero, you would still have a $33 million minus $14 million = $19 million profit.

Any buyer would be responsible for all the contracts / fee-for-departure lift that Mesa provides. Who wants to buy a bunch of contracts that are losing money?

If Mesa ran it's own network, sold it's own tickets and so forth, then it might make sense to buy it, stop operations, and sell off assets a-la Gordon Gekko.

As it is, no sane buyer would purchase this airline unless they already had an understanding with United, Delta, and USAir about canceling contracts upon purchase.

This argument keeps cropping up and I don't understand why the average pilot doesn't get it. Mesa is NOT an airline, it's a contracted service company that provides "lift".

Am I missing something?

 

[MONKEY]

I think the main obstacle is the Aloha lawsuit. If you purchase Mesa you could be on the hook for a lawsuit that could cost more than a quarter of a BILLION dollars.

 

[topdawg]

Here's what I don't understand. Why doesn't some cold-hearted corporate raider with the $14 million to invest short term buy Mesa, and shut the doors? It has a book value of nearly $5 a share (including $112 million in stock equity and $33 million in retained earnings). Even if the stock value were dropped to zero, you would still have a $33 million minus $14 million = $19 million profit.

$19 - $150 (Aloha lawsuit) = $131 Loss

 

[Ezralite]

Question: What do Mesa and Curtis James Jackson III have in common?

Answer: They're both Fitty Cent.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mesa

 

[Soverytired]

$19 - $150 (Aloha lawsuit) = $131 Loss

Even assuming the Aloha lawsuit goes away, the "buyout - sell off the pieces" scenario won't work. Any buy would have a contractual obligation to provide lift to the code share partners.

United, UsAir and Delta are not going to accept "I'm the new owner and I'm going to ignore all these contracts now."

You want to talk "slam dunk lawsuits?" These would be no-brainers.

 

[Jon Rivoli]

No one is going to buy now. Once in bankruptcy you'll be able to get a better deal. Ditch the airplanes you don't want, sidestep the lawsuits, shed some debt, negociate better lease terms. Why buy it on the hoof today when you should be be able buy the T-Bone, Prime Rib and Sirloin on sale next week.

 

[WalterSobchak]

Question: What do Mesa and Curtis James Jackson III have in common?

Answer: They're both Fitty Cent.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mesa

Not to mention, they're both kinda "ghetto-a$$"...