No, I am not suddenly into TA (although I wish more T&A came my way). It is just that I followed the trail of slush on Canal St. (mistaken by some to be melting snow) to the Frank Gehry designed box where Ming continued to foam at the mouth, unable to control his excitement on his (un)due diligence of VoIP-PAL.com (VPLM). "They are suing the big boys for $7 billion, and the stock has a market cap of only $125 million," shrieked the wily investor, adding that this bounteous number did not include ongoing royalties or the treasure to be gained on other continents or from other potential infringers.
Looking around, I suggested that I could see a problem. Ming sadly nodded his head. Even without his abacus, I could see that storage would be difficult. Ming, as you know, likes to fondle his certs, and he demands one for each of his shares. In order to acquire his traditional 4.99999% ownership position, Ming will have to buy approximately 50 million shares of VPLM. Being thicker than regular bond paper, 500 certs would come to a stack about 5" high, and 50 million would therefore be nearly 42,000' high- from which perch Ming could look down upon Mt. Everest. Figuring the average cert to be 12" long by 8" wide, we agreed that he needed 28,000 cubic feet of space and perhaps multiples of that if he became an aggressive 13-D filer.
So the upshot here is that Ming set off to Brooklyn today in search of space to lease. Since the walk across the bridge is longer than it appears, this effort may take more time than he had hoped, particularly since the Hasidim are not doing business today nor are the Christians tomorrow, and everybody in Brooklyn will be celebrating Presidents' Day on Monday, gleeful that Hillary got schlonged by native son, Bernie.
So how does penurious Ming finance this new stock purchase, I wondered? Well, he will (again) defer his debt to me (from a football wager), consisting of one chocolate egg cream and one (large) black and white cookie, which will get him at least 100 shares. When questioned about financing the rest, Ming sheepishly looked at the ground and paraphrased Sal Tessio, "Tell Kendall it is only business. I always liked him." (I know this to be a lie. Ming is quite miffed that he did not get invited to a 49er's game this past season.)
Anyway, a word to the wise...VHC could come under pressure this week, assuming Ming can strike a deal to lease the (empty seated) Barclays Center. Some may want to front run Ming - and hopefully sell their VHC to me.