178
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
A bit of detective work.
The website lists no names for the firm. Any business, doctor, lawyer, etc, is at least going to tell you who the main partners are.
The site itself looks like a generic ...
59
votes
Accepted
Who receives the money when one company buys another?
Shareholders of Monsanto will get the money from Bayer. Shareholders are independent people or entities.
Think of Monsanto as a thing that shareholders had. This thing is now being purchased by ...
- 795
45
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
Purely FWIW, "Does this sound legitimate?"
The company no longer trades on any stock market as it is in receivership. There is no administrative board to contact, and it doesn't even have a ...
- 13.8k
38
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
Definitely a scam. Some warning signs in the email:
Please find attached the documents pertaining to the investment that you made in XXX Investment currently known as XXIT (XXX XXX Investment Trust)...
38
votes
Can someone just forcefully take over a public company for its market price?
Can one just forcefully acquire a company that is stock market listed?
Yes, one can. Though not on market price.
You start buying shares. Once you have a certain percentage, you can force board seats ...
- 11.6k
34
votes
Accepted
How to avoid taxes when a stock you own is taken over in a cash deal?
US centric answer:
An all-cash deal is a sale so there is no way to avoid taxes when there's a cash buy out of a position in a non-sheltered account.
- 75.8k
29
votes
Why is AT&T's stock price declining, during the days that they announced the acquisition of Time Warner inc.?
It is not unusual for the acquiring company's stock to fall in any time of merger announcement. Some of it has to do with the fact the acquirer is going to either take on new debt to pay for the cost ...
- 10.1k
24
votes
Who receives the money when one company buys another?
Monsanto is a publicly traded company that trades under the ticker MON. The stock is owned by a wide range of owner around the world. The buyout offer from Bayer is an all cash offer. Bayer will buy ...
- 3,997
24
votes
Accepted
I have Sprint shares. What does this merger with T-Mobile mean for my shares?
The deal is 1 share of TMUS for every 9.75 shares of S. If it goes through then
you will receive 205.13 shares of TMUS for your 2,000 shares of S. If Fidelity does't deal with fractional shares ...
- 75.8k
19
votes
Accepted
Acquisition - what happens to stock?
Yes, it was announced in October of 2018, that IBM will acquire Red Hat (RHT) for $190 per share.
In January, Red Hat shareholders "approved the adoption of the agreement and plan of merger, dated as ...
- 75.8k
18
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
In case I provide my bank account number (IBAN number in the EU), how will they be able to abuse this?
There are multiple ways. In this case, it could be that once you give the details, they will ...
- 57k
18
votes
Accepted
Why would being acquired lead management to not issue guidance or field questions?
Until an acquisition is closed, the flow of information from the target company can and should be restricted to the agreed due diligence items and to SEC filings including the 10-Q. Extraneous ...
15
votes
Accepted
What happens to Bonds if a company is bought out by a private equity firm?
Dheer is correct in the general case (and probably all Private Equity cases), however, there are a few exceptions:
Buyers can offer to "assume" the liabilities of the acquired company in exchange for ...
- 131k
15
votes
Can someone just forcefully take over a public company for its market price?
Can one just forcefully acquire a company that is stock market listed?
No - all they can do is buy up all of the shares that are put up for sale. And that public buying would put significant upward ...
- 131k
13
votes
Who receives the money when one company buys another?
It's tempting to think of a corporation as a real thing, because in many respects it seems to be. But it isn't a corporeal thing (despite the root word of the name). It may own corporeal things, and ...
- 1,857
13
votes
Why is AT&T's stock price declining, during the days that they announced the acquisition of Time Warner inc.?
Markets are generally skeptical of the benefits of mergers. History shows that the benefits of merger claimed by the company doing the purchase rarely materialise.
If on the day prior to the ...
- 6,400
13
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
This sounds like a scam, how really depends on the paperwork they want you to sign. Here is an additional piece that is cause for concern:
I did a reverse imagesearch on their about picture and it ...
- 231
12
votes
What happens to Bonds if a company is bought out by a private equity firm?
Is the new Private Equity Firm responsible for that debt?
Say Company A has issued Corporate Bonds, even if the ownership changes to Private Equity firm; the entity Company A remains the same and is ...
- 57k
11
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
Whether you think it is a scam has nothing to do with reality. People too easily convince themselves of things they want to believe -- a scam is a confidence game which revolves around making you ...
10
votes
Is it still insider trading if no benefit was exchanged or received from the information?
I am a flight attendant on a private jet and I hear a bank CEO
discussing a merger or a buyout. I proceed to purchase that stock
before the announcement. The CEO did not tell me to buy it, I just
...
- 1,657
9
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
Similar to the reverse search of the image mentioned by @other_paul, a useful check for plagiarism is to find an 'unusual phrase' and see if it appears elsewhere.
For example, I took "caring about a ...
- 191
9
votes
I am an EU resident being contacted about stock I own in a defunct company by a supposedly US based lawyer, is this a scam?
The remaining 25% would be immediately absorbed by the new owner and
have no financial value whatsoever to the existing shareholder. Under
US law this is perfectly legal and a commonly used ...
- 1,322
9
votes
Can someone just forcefully take over a public company for its market price?
The 'current price' listed on a public stock market for company stock is simply the last price where someone was able to sell their stock to someone else. This is generally a very good representation ...
- 42k
8
votes
What happens to my stock when a company I invested in gets bought by another company?
company is bought by another company
This depends on how the deal is structured, it varies from case to case basis. Plus it is also how much percentage the new company is buying, the local ...
- 57k
8
votes
Accepted
Why do big companies buy out sinking ships? (closing/bankrupt companies)
Each company likely does so for its own reasons. Your examples:
Starbucks apparently bought Teavana because they wanted to sell their teas.
According to Polygon,
Razer's June 12 purchase ...
- 21k
8
votes
Accepted
Red Hat acquired by IBM
What chart are you looking at that Red Hat stock is declining? The acquisition was announced over the weekend and the company shares saw a massive increase in the face of yet another broad market ...
- 49k
8
votes
How is it legal for Twitter to dilute the share of one specific shareholder?
From the NY Times:
A poison pill is officially known as a shareholder rights plan, and it
can appear in a company’s charter or bylaws or exist as a contract
among shareholders.
There are different ...
- 7,506
7
votes
Why is AT&T's stock price declining, during the days that they announced the acquisition of Time Warner inc.?
Typically, stocks are falling because more people try to sell than to buy. Why they try to sell is anyone's guess.
In this case, it seems that not everybody shares your optimism; you might not have ...
- 37.6k
7
votes
Musk bought Twitter with $13b loans - why is *Twitter* liable for this debt rather than Musk?
The way the deal was structured was that Twitter essentially repurchased its own shares from the public and then sold itself to Musk.
Twitter spent $13b on that, Musk spent IIRC another ~$26B, and his ...
- 166k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible