The risk arbs, by the way, are the risk arbitrageurs, those speculators who live with one ear to the ground. The minute they hear word, inside or otherwise, that a company is "in play," meaning it's a candidate for a possible takeover or merger, they immediately grab up and stockpile huge blocks of its publicly traded shares. Then they sit back and pray for a bidding war. Since company A has offered so much a share for company Z, maybe company B will step in and offer more. Or maybe company Z itself will outbid them both and offer even more in a stock buyback. They're the hyenas of the hunt, getting plenty of leftovers no matter who ends up buying Z. Besides, they don't really care anyway. They're not investing in American industry, they're laying side bets.
Tam and Jack settled back while I punched in Bill's number.
The doctor was in, and after a few profane formalities— tempered when we informed him of a female presence—he listened with uncharacteristic attentiveness. I gave him an
update, concluding with the view that we ought to try heading off MITI's presumed play.
Henderson, despite his admiration for Noda's style, didn't take kindly to the possible buy-up of America's remaining R&D in semiconductors, a specter that coincided all too closely to his own fable about how MITI had already eaten one segment, memory chips. I decided to start by seeing if he and I were on the same wavelength concerning countermeasures. Without tipping him to my own idea, I asked what he thought could be done.
"Tell you, it won't be easy. One thing, though, we could maybe try and scare 'em off with a little brushfire."
"Try that in English, Bill," Jack interrupted.
"Don't know, maybe a few hot rumors could hit the Street . . . mergers, takeovers, your usual quick-buck action. Say a few of the CEOs of these outfits on Noda's Christmas list had a little powwow, a 'secret' meeting everybody manages to hear about, and supposedly talked about gettin' themselves bought out. Naturally they'd deny everything on the Evening News, which in itself will tell the Street we're talkin' wedding bells."
"Is that really going to do us any good?" Tam was talking to the box.
"Afternoon, ma'am. Liked that last book of yours a whole lot. Hope you're keeping them boys sober." I could almost see Henderson turn up the charm, sculpting a voluptuous, horny divorcee in his ardent imagination. Tam, to my surprise, was not totally immune to his Georgia sweet talk. She sort of smiled to herself as he continued, "But to answer your question, a takeover rumor can do marvels for your stock price. What happens is the 'arbs' come in, snapping up blocks of stock and holding them, just in case. It can take a lot of securities out of circulation, at least short term. So if we could get the arbs to chasing those companies on Noda's list, they'd give the Japs a little competition. At the very least it'd kite the market, hurt their pocketbook."