See my tagline.
The shrimp boaters in the Gulf may own an oil company before long.
Who thinks that doing business in the USA is less risky than in, say, India or China?
Huh? Other than at the initial public offering or stock buybacks, the price of the stock has very little effect on its cost and profits from operations (the reverse isn't true, making profits boosts the stock price). They really haven't spent a lot for the clean up compared to their after-tax profit (over $16 billion in 2009). Are they going to have a rough time and maybe a couple of years where everything that would have been profit goes to the cleanup? Yes, but that isn't bankrupt unless they are abusing the bankruptcy laws to hid from legitimate liabilities.
hmmm...if a Big Eeevil Oil Company is unable to stem the tide that is fouling the Gulf, then I’m sure a Big Eeevil BANKRUPT Oil Company will be up to the task! /sarc
The end game will be interesting here. As BP’s liabilities grow and grow, the company edges closer towards bankruptcy and possibly insolvency. If the government somehow decides to take over BP (as some idiot liberals suggest), it will not have any value only a liability that will need to be borne by the taxpayers. Government lawsuits will only further deplete BP of even more value.
BP will probably fail and the government will be picking up the clean-up bill. Those harmed by the oil spill may not have any recourse unless we see another bail-out which would be very un-popular by the Left and the Right.
BP = Barack’s Problem
No wonder the stock is tanking. Damn.
Wow... it’s a good thing Tony Hayward remembered to sell one third of his stake in the company three weeks before the SHTF. What amazing luck!
not buying this line of thought. BP is a global company with billions in free cash flow coming in regularly. The event in the gulf has no impact on their cash flow from their global business - it continues on unimpacted generating profit. The potential liabilities are not even known, let alone invoiced and due in 30 days, so I don’t see how they could be insolvent in the near term. These kinds of costs will take many years to resolve, go through countless courts and appeals. BP is not going anywhere, even though RATs are hoping to take out another sort of capitalist company.
If BP is held to their maximum legal liability then they’ll have no trouble paying it off. If the law is changed and they have to pay for everything ex post facto then they will have no choice but to go bust.