The Shadow

Leon Cooperman, Minimize Your Regrets

February 17, 2022 by The Shadow Leave a Comment

I have always appreciated the straightforward questioning and curmudgeonly manner of Leon Cooperman in the handful of times that I have encountered him at investment meetings over the years. I have also admired the story of his humble beginnings, and the hard work and acumen that led to his tremendous success.

Similarly, I too believe in the meritocratic ideal of capitalism, but in the 21st Century the “meritocracy” of that ideal has been severely weakened. And the serious flaws of capitalism as it is practiced in the U.S. today might very well lead to its demise in almost the exact manner, and for the same reasons, that Karl Marx described 150 years ago.

Highlighting those flaws – many of which are or were off the radar when I did – describing in detail the implicit errors in them, and providing solutions is why I began this website eight years ago. The tagline says it all: The Capitalist Revolution Begins Here.

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Larry Fink And His Annual Wet Noodle

January 18, 2022 by The Shadow Leave a Comment

Ughh, an Editor’s nightmare just transpired when in checking the SEO for this story I googled “Larry Fink Wet Noodle” and landed on a similar title by Gretchen Morgenson in The New York Times from 2016. Worse, not only did I use the same metaphor in the title but I also highlighted the same inadequacy as she as the basis for my post.

Nevertheless six years have passed, Blackrock has doubled its assets under management and its clout in the market, and absolutely zero has been done by Larry Fink to rectify this issue. That gap makes his do-gooder proselytizing all the more galling, and also makes my caustic take all the more relevant.

LARRY Fink’s 2022 “Letter to CEO’s” is out and receiving the opprobrium it deserves. It is a very lengthy diatribe with the proper focal points and wording perfectly hitting the just-left-of-center midpoint where the nation currently stands, and everyone no matter what their viewpoint on these matters is seeing right through the pablum.

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Leon Black & Jeffrey Epstein: Sordid Maybe, Tax Evasion Might Be Real Story

January 29, 2021 by The Shadow Leave a Comment

Leon Black has had an extraordinary career on Wall Street. After graduating from Dartmouth and getting his MBA at Harvard, he spent 14 years at the uber firm of the 1980’s Drexel Burnham, where he ascended to head the formidable M&A department and was the co-head of Corporate Finance. In 1990 he founded Apollo Global Management which currently manages over $300 billion and through which he has amassed a personal fortune nearing $10 billion.

As CEO of Apollo and given the nature of its business, he has overseen the buying and selling of dozens if not hundreds of companies, and seemingly possesses a strong familiarity with all the accounting, operational, regulatory, and capital markets know-how that comes with it. And what he or his high powered colleagues are not fully versed in, the heft and profitability of Apollo allows them to hire the best advisors, consultants, lawyers, and lobbyists money can buy. Thus I think it is fair to say that Leon Black is well ensconced in the nexus of high finance. In addition, he’s the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, putting him at the pinnacle of not only wealth, but society.

Jeffrey Epstein was not a CPA, or even a college grad. His experience on Wall Street was a stint at Bear Stearns, where he did have some success, but was asked to leave after five years for reasons that remain largely unknown.

Which begs the question “What kind of extraordinary tax advice did Jeffrey Epstein possess that Leon Black was willing to pay him a whopping $158 million for it?”

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Trump To Form SPAC Day One After Leaving Office

January 19, 2021 by The Shadow Leave a Comment

That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it; Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free

The headline above were it to actually occur would not surprise me one iota. What better way to monetize your avid following than forming a SPAC? What better way to take in a huge pile of money for doing practically nothing with minimal risk?

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SPAC’S Suck Pt. II

November 18, 2020 by The Shadow Leave a Comment

In my last post I wrote about the 20% dilution for average SPAC purchasers, and how that 20% is gifted to the sponsor. But in one of the two examples of cashing in that I shared it left open the question ‘What about John Henry, he’s not a sponsor, what did he get out of it?’

Quite simply, he got an excellent opportunity to begin cashing out. Was the SPAC purchase of part of his company done at a reasonable valuation? In this particular instance I have no idea, but overall I suspect that owners selling to SPAC’s are receiving very favorable prices and terms that would not be paid in traditional private markets or in an IPO. While I didn’t want to take the exhaustive amount of time needed to evaluate John Henry’s sale price, I knew that the main conflict of interest in SPAC’s – close a deal, any deal – would make rich hunting grounds for those who do have the time and incentive: short sellers.

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