You're the CFO of a newspaper company (we're running the Wayback Machine 20 years here) and you stupidly had all 8 tranches of your debt come due the same year.
The problem? That year is 2008. It's November. And you have to refinance $1.2 billion worth of bonds in a market that's just sayin', "Nuh-uh."
Why did you do this? Why did you have all the bonds come due at the same time? Had you laddered them (like...having $200 million come due each year for 6 years sequentially), there'd have been no stress. But this was not the case. At all. And...can you tell this is a true story? The company: Gannett Newspapers, owners of USA Today and a bunch of local papers and TV stations. The company almost went bankrupt, but they were just able to get credit extensions and enough dough to get them into 2009, when their refinancing took hold and their equity bounced big off of a mid-single-digit bottom.
Kids, don't let this happen to you.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Mortgage?345 Views
Finance allah shmoop shmoop What is a mortgage Well people
a mortgage is just dead it's alone but one with
special tax treatment For most people simply put Any interest
you pay on a mortgage to buy a home is
tax deductible Morty morton's inputs down a hundred thousand bucks
to buy a home that costs four hundred big ones
his mortgages three hundred grand at five percent interest per
year So that's fifteen thousand dollars a year he pays
to rent the money from the bank which he uses
to buy his dream home with the loop de loop
waterslide Morty earns one hundred grand a year and pays
tax on his last fifteen thousand of earnings soas faras
The irs is concerned since morty can deduct his fifteen
thousand dollars in interest against his earnings he does not
in fact earn taxable wages of one hundred grand annually
Instead he earns taxable wages of eighty five thousand dollars
a year Essentially with government is doing is sharing in
some of the cost of renting the money Taub i'm
ortiz home well why would the u s government be
so charitable Well because home ownership has been integral part
of the american dream since the u s of a
i po'ed in seventeen seventy six easy access to mortgages
and then home buying can be a hugely beneficial asset
In the vast majority of cases homes create family stability
a store of wealth and tax dollars for local schools
in the form of real estate taxes So don't feel
bad about splurging on that water slide there Morty Just 00:01:42.93 --> [endTime] remember you're doing it for the kids Hello
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