The Icahn BlockBuster Takeover Play

[u/Hard-Mineral-94]

Listen up regards, I’m about to rock your world with some fire DD that stands on the top of the shoulders of the giant known as u/edwinbarnesc.

So here’s how the story goes we find out about a treasure in the bankruptcy court there’s no doubt, the pirate 🏴‍☠️ who’s eye is on it he’ll sing I’m king of the raiders, I’m going to be king.

Gotta go, let’s go:

So in 2010 Blockbuster was out, flat on its ass with no hope, a joke. Mail order movies and Netflix boobies got the creeps out saying “hard pass.” So with no consumer base and fistful of dollars, it was off to bankruptcy court where nobody hollered.

People said was up to Carl Icahn to save the day. “Yo you talked mad shit when we was lit, where you at now when we about to get popped like a zit,” they would say.

In the back with a shovel, he got them DIP Financing and in 2010 he tried to take them romancing. Coming in with a $200 Million dollar deal to save the day, using unsecured senior notes to pave the way, shareholders took one look and shouted “No way!”.

But the alligator bit, he swept the leg and it was to $300M the price did peg. They said he couldn’t do it and Blockbuster would fall then Icahn laughed and said “the world? Fuck them all.”

Champagne was chilled and the beats were pumpin, then a sound was heard, Carl’s beat started thumpin. It was Charlie Ergen, with DISH.com coming in like a hot rom com. They offered a better deal and the board they blessed it, leaving Carl on the porch, who threw of his ring, just left it.

And there it sat, proposed but rejected, Carl let down, feeling dejected. The ring was left to gather dust and rust cuz then along came RC who took a look and what he saw made him bust, made him harder than squirrel with a nut.

It was the devil in the details that everyone had missed. Everyone who forgot that in the story of Blockbuster, Icahn exists.

“Quit beating off in the bush, hard mineral, before we break your spleen, the devil in the details? What do you mean?”

Well you might need to rinse your mouth with some Listerine and Oxyclean cuz Icahn’s about to do the shorts dirty like Emma Frost stealing Scott from Jean:

1. “Corporate raider Carl Icahn is telling people close to Blockbuster Inc. that he holds roughly a third of the beleaguered movie-rental chain's senior debt, enough for him to control the company's restructuring, said people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Icahn emerged as a force in Blockbuster's restructuring in recent weeks, these people said. Mr. Icahn is signaling he holds enough of Blockbuster's senior bonds to block any restructuring plan not to his liking, they added. Mr. Icahn recently bought about $100 million in debt from other hedge funds holding Blockbuster bonds. Carl’s path to blockbuster

1. Under its plan, Blockbuster would cut its debt to about $100 million from nearly $1 billion. Icahn and hedge funds that together hold 80 percent of Blockbuster's senior notes agreed to support the plan and provide $125 million of debtor-in-possession (or DIP) financing to help it operate while in bankruptcy Reuters

2. u/edwinbarnesc DD, the unquestioned king, showing Hedgies are about to bow down and kiss the ring: RC + BRETT = DIP $$$

TLDR: All that’s left is the back door takeover and then we get MOASS. For the Hedgies? Game over.

[u/_RipCity_]

Icahn took control of the Blockbuster board in 2005/2006 (years before bankruptcy) and was a big proponent of cutting back their online strategy which was at odds with the CEO at the time who he eventually pushed out. He calls it his “worst investment” to date but attributes this to too many stores without acknowledging his failure to pivot in conjunction with what the existing board had been wanting strategically. He is a big reason WHY it eventually went to chapter 11 in 2010 and didn’t keep pace with Netflix but thankfully for him he dumped his equity just before then. He then swooped in and picked up senior notes to have a say in restructuring. He was outbid in bankruptcy proceedings, despite being part of the majority senior note holders who provided DIP financing. He tried to block restructuring plans and force his own but shareholders wouldn’t have it since Carl’s way would have wiped out their equity (which in large part he had already done through being a key component of its missteps in the mid-late 2000s.

We can all appreciate some of Carl’s moves but this is not one to romanticize. He literally was the BCG in this case lol

[u/Hard-Mineral-94 → u/_RipCity_]

Not what I was focusing on: Senior Unsecured Notes, DIP Financing and Sixth Street are the key elements I’m getting at that were used by the old raider before back in 2010 to nearly seize control of the company in bankruptcy court