Tidbits

[gfp]

8 minutes ago, KJP said:

Odd-lot tender:  https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/TLNE/news/Talen-Energy-Corporation-Commences-a-Tender-Offer-to-Repurchase-up-to-600000000-of-its-Common-Stock?id=442166

 

Talen is not an SEC filer so the Offer to Purchase is not available on EDGAR.  The press release tells you how to get it.  I have requested it but haven't yet received it.  Nevertheless, I bought yesterday based on some assumptions about what's in it.  

 

Is your assumption that 99 shares is an odd lot here?

[KJP]

46 minutes ago, gfp said:

 

Is your assumption that 99 shares is an odd lot here?

 

Yes, that's one of them.  I have seen 99 shares referred to in a couple of secondary sources but cannot verify it yet myself.

 

EDIT:  Apparently it takes the administrator 24-48 hours to email the Offer to Purchase once requested.  They did confirm to me over the phone that an odd let is anything less than 100 shares.

Edited June 5 by KJP

[Eng12345]

On 6/5/2024 at 8:38 AM, KJP said:

Odd-lot tender:  https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/TLNE/news/Talen-Energy-Corporation-Commences-a-Tender-Offer-to-Repurchase-up-to-600000000-of-its-Common-Stock?id=442166

 

Talen is not an SEC filer so the Offer to Purchase is not available on EDGAR.  The press release tells you how to get it.  I have requested it but haven't yet received it.  Nevertheless, I bought yesterday based on some assumptions about what's in it.  

 

 

Theres a podcast on TLNE if you are interested... I have taken a small position, but I should have purchased two months ago when dinar pointed it out. 

 

I'm not interested in their tender offer. 

[Eng12345]

 

 

Just watched this short 60 minutes clip that sparked my interest... thought it addressed some interesting questions I've had based on my own career thus far. Think there is a lot of merit to employee ownership. Starting out of college I worked at Kiewit which was employee owned by those with 5+ years. I never made it to ownership but heard a lot of the virtues of the program - and frankly it showed in how much the middle level management cared about making good, long-term decisions and putting in the requisite effort and hours. 

 

On the other side of the coin, I went to the exact opposite culture at a big 3 auto manufacturer and saw just how bad the employee culture can get when employee don't feel invested. Even many mid-level managers etc did not give a hoot about making good decisions or putting in the requisite hours. I'm beginning to realize that I capital structure matters for performance... the question is how much. 

 

I think Stavros had an excellent point that in some of these crappy firms employees feel the social contract is broken. I couldn't have stated my experience at big 3 more succinctly. 

[gfp]

On 6/5/2024 at 9:25 AM, KJP said:

 

Yes, that's one of them.  I have seen 99 shares referred to in a couple of secondary sources but cannot verify it yet myself.

 

EDIT:  Apparently it takes the administrator 24-48 hours to email the Offer to Purchase once requested.  They did confirm to me over the phone that an odd let is anything less than 100 shares.

 

Thanks for sharing.  I'll keep an eye on it.  I tried for 108 and 108.50 like a cheapskate and didn't get anything of course.  I like the early tender bonus - nice little feature

[ValueArb]

TLNE's tender offer can be read here. The big issue is that it has an out to cancel the tender if a small basket of energy stocks drops by 10%, which by my calculations is down 14% at the moment.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pw3zsirmdj2uwqv7s3mut/Talen-Offer-to-Purchase-Final.PDF?rlkey=ofbeviytkuw5q3ilkn9x7p1w3&e=1&st=ufkg6s2l&dl=0

[Saluki]

I heard someone mention that the NY Times now makes more from games like Wordle than they do reporting news.  It sounded wrong, but I looked it up:

 

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/29/wordle-nyt-games-news-media-layoffs

 

• The company's subscription revenue increased nearly 10% to $418.6 million in the third quarter of 2023 — with digital product earnings rising nearly 16%, to $282.2 million, driven in part by bundles.

 

Buffett realized that Textiles was a bad business and he didn't keep the money losing arm because Berkshire is a textile company. By contrast, Sears always saw itself as a retailer, and the people at the top were jealous of the fast growing and highly profitable new parts of the company because it was a threat to the power of the retail executives. So they spun off Allstate, Dean Witter and Discover card, and stayed a retailer. 

 

I wonder if the NYTimes will eventually realize that they are a gaming company, and get rid of all those reporters, printing presses and news offices and just focus on what is actually driving the train forward. 

[ValueArb]

8 minutes ago, Saluki said:

I heard someone mention that the NY Times now makes more from games like Wordle than they do reporting news.  It sounded wrong, but I looked it up:

 

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/29/wordle-nyt-games-news-media-layoffs

 

• The company's subscription revenue increased nearly 10% to $418.6 million in the third quarter of 2023 — with digital product earnings rising nearly 16%, to $282.2 million, driven in part by bundles.

 

Buffett realized that Textiles was a bad business and he didn't keep the money losing arm because Berkshire is a textile company. By contrast, Sears always saw itself as a retailer, and the people at the top were jealous of the fast growing and highly profitable new parts of the company because it was a threat to the power of the retail executives. So they spun off Allstate, Dean Witter and Discover card, and stayed a retailer. 

 

I wonder if the NYTimes will eventually realize that they are a gaming company, and get rid of all those reporters, printing presses and news offices and just focus on what is actually driving the train forward. 

 

 

So is now the fastest career ending decision a NYT columnist can make is not writing a critique of Democrats, or Republican, but Wordle?

[Sweet]

Important to keep some perspective.  As my father says ‘you can’t take the money with you’.

 

 

Edited June 6 by Sweet

[KJP]

19 hours ago, ValueArb said:

TLNE's tender offer can be read here. The big issue is that it has an out to cancel the tender if a small basket of energy stocks drops by 10%, which by my calculations is down 14% at the moment.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pw3zsirmdj2uwqv7s3mut/Talen-Offer-to-Purchase-Final.PDF?rlkey=ofbeviytkuw5q3ilkn9x7p1w3&e=1&st=ufkg6s2l&dl=0

 

Yes, the provision has been triggered, so Talen could cancel the offer if it wanted to.   

[KJP]

On 6/7/2024 at 8:14 AM, KJP said:

 

Yes, the provision has been triggered, so Talen could cancel the offer if it wanted to.   

 

The tender was fully subscribed the early tender deadline and closed at $116:  https://talenenergy.investorroom.com/2024-06-13-Talen-Energy-Corporation-Announces-Early-Tender-Results-of-its-Previously-Announced-Tender-Offer-to-Repurchase-up-to-600,000,000-of-its-Common-Stock

[Saluki]

 

The post (I think it was deleted) bemoaning the value of this board reminded me of this clip of an interview with Steve Cohen's performance coach.  There are lots of things that are too hard for you individually, but collectively you can do a lot by putting your heads together and problem solving. 

 

Even Buffett had Munger to bounce ideas off of, and people like Bill Ackman are the public face of their funds, but they don't run one man shops.