Sunday, March 15

Alitalia's Three Card Monte


Just when Alitalia finally merged with AirOne (something I suggested they do since the onset of their travails), the skies started looked friendlier (even if the strikes of the ground crew et.al. did not), and I thought my days of dissing Alitalia were over. But no.
Turns out, for 40000 small investors (read: the ones that aren't SOB's -- that's Supporters of Berlusconi) are left holding nothing but the worthless titles to their stocks. These are, of course, stocks in the "old" Alitalia.
That's because last week, Alitalia was simply pulled off the Milan stock exchange; disappearing as silently as a jet over the Bermuda triangle.
And, even though all of the Consumer Advocate agencies are heating up for a huge Class Action suit, one could argue that, with its losses, their stocks were worthless anyway. But still, with the formation of the New Alitalia they demand a bit of upside.
Ahhh, nothing like breathing investor confidence and goodwill into the takeoff of a new enterprise -- the one claiming to be the "flag bearer of the Italian nation".

To see how Alitalia did it, just click here. The A is for Alitalia.

1 comment:

GC said...

One should also notice, tho, that lots of those 4000 are people who were buying shares betting on the 100th recapitalization of Alitalia made with tax money, just as much as the hundreds of people who kept buying Alitalia bonds, for the same reason, up to the day before it was put in receivership. Little sympathy for speculators, especially these days...