Mattel actually went to a negative $14 book value when they wrote off Intellivision, their video game subsidiary. When the Bass brothers came in with a $275 million rescue package, mostly in the form of an additional stock offering, Mattel was able to focus on its' core business of making toys and recover. Mattel has undergone some stock splits since then, but the split-adjusted price of the Bass brothers' cost would be roughly $2/share in today's market. I tagged along with them and it turned into a successful turnaround. I'm still trying to get a handle on everything going on with HPH. What attracted me initially was that there was concern among HPH's customers about their liquidity. With the financing, that problem should be removed.
JL |