Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds often measure their investments in minutes, not decades; but for Anchorage Capital Group, its long-held stake in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is proving that patience can also be profitable.The New York-based money manager stands to make roughly $2 billion on its investment in the film and TV producer, one that began almost 11 years ago with MGM in bankruptcy court. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the company for $8.45 billion Wednesday, a price that includes just under $2 billion in debt.The deal is in many ways a vindication for Kevin Ulrich, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader who co-founded Anchorage in 2003 and was part of a group of distressed debt investors that took control of MGM as it went through the restructuring process. In recent years the stake looked to be an albatross for the fund, one that came with significant drama in its own right.Ulrich brought in and later fired a high-profile chief executive officer, resisted efforts by activist investor Carl Icahn to take control, and held out for a bigger payday after years of considering various exit strategies. By selling now, as demand for media content from entertainment and technology companies alike is booming, he’s proving his long-held faith in the investment was justified.“There was a lot of maneuvering, a lot of financial engineering,” said Steven Azarbad, chief investment officer at New York’s Maglan Capital, an MGM investor who sold his shares four years ago. “But they’ve done great.”A representative for Anchorage declined to comment.When Ulrich first invested in MGM, he was new to Hollywood. He helped pick Gary Barber, a South African-born producer of films such as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” as chief executive officer of the storied but debt-laden studio. Barber brought to the table a shrewd business sense, and connections into a world Ulrich long admired from afar.Barber shepherded MGM’s development of “The Hobbit” franchise, a co-production with Warner Bros., that became a global smash hit. He helmed the release of the James Bond film, “Skyfall,” which generated over $1 billion at the box office, and he revived the studio’s work in television. Barber also brokered a deal to bring on TV super producer Mark Burnett, which gave MGM access to reality show hits like “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” but would ultimately become personally troublesome.In 2012 the company bought back Icahn’s stock for $590 million. It also filed paperwork for a possible public offering of shares, and considered other options, such as a sale.As Barber boosted MGM’s film and TV pipeline, Ulrich was increasingly entranced by the allure of Hollywood. He became a regular at movie premieres in Los Angeles and New York, and frequented industry parties in the Hamptons and elsewhere. He became active in creative decisions after becoming chair of MGM’s board -- somewhat unusual for a non-executive lacking Hollywood experience -- even getting involved with business granularities like casting.Growing RiftBut over the following years a rift began to open up between Barber and Ulrich. When it was time to renew Barber’s contract in 2017, Ulrich conducted an extensive search for a new CEO. When it ended, he ultimately chose to sign Barber to a new five-year deal. Yet around the same time, the pair split on whether to sell the company, with Ulrich wanting to hang on to the studio and Barber saying it was time to find a buyer.The company would hold buyout talks with Apple Inc. as well as Chinese investors that would ultimately prove fruitless.Only months after renewing Barber’s deal, Ulrich fired him. The shock departure meant the company had to pay Barber for five years of salary and buy out his equity, a package totaling $260 million. In the three years since Barber left, Ulrich hasn’t replaced him, instead operating an “office of the chief executive officer,” comprised of various people that each have their personal vision for MGM.Barber declined to comment via his spokesperson.Bounce BackAfter the initial period of success following the restructuring, the gains became harder to come by, as they did in Anchorage’s overall credit-focused business. Two senior managers left the firm in January 2020, and another in November. Anchorage’s flagship strategy, with about $8.5 billion under management, returned just 0.6% in 2018, 1.5% in 2019 and 4.4% in 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.In December, MGM hired investment bankers for a potential sale.MGM only released one film in theaters in 2020. Its biggest potential hit, the latest Bond film, “No Time to Die,” was pushed from last year to this October as a result of the pandemic.Yet the value of MGM’s library rose as everyone from media companies to technology giants have sought to build video streaming platforms that can compete with industry leader Netflix Inc. Earnings jumped 48% last year, to about $307 million, even as sales declined.Anchorage holds a roughly 30% stake in MGM, worth about $2.5 billion in the sale, said people with knowledge of the matter. Anchorage invested around $500 million in the company more than a decade ago. Including the MGM stake, Anchorage’s flagship fund is up 18% this year, the people added. The fund has gained about 8% in 2021 not counting the studio.More stories like this are available on bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.<doc-sep>"President Trump got all our favorite foods, it was the best meal we ever had. Then we go see the coastal elite media trashing it for not being organic vegan. We're football players, not bloggers. This was a perfect blue collar party."<doc-sep>In honor of a long-standing tradition, the White House hosted the winners of this year's College Football Playoff National Championship, the Clemson Tigers, in a celebratory dinner this week which includes a meet-and-greet with the President. However, the White House said that because the current government shutdown — now the longest running in history — has resulted in the loss of non-essential workers, the bulk of the White House's kitchen staff who would normally prepare the catering for the affair are furloughed. Notably missing from news reports or announcements from the administration: The U.S. Navy runs and staffs the White House Mess, the staff take-out spot and cabinet member restaurant on White House grounds, which it seats 50 and is still running because the military has not been furloughed. Still, even if the administration didn't feel that the cooks of the U.S. Navy and the white tablecloths and White House china were an appropriate meal for the visiting Clemson players, the president also didn't ask the staff at his hotel — just a few blocks away from the White House, where it has done quite well catering a wide variety of events in Washington since the owner became president — to help pick up the slack. Instead, the chief resident of the White House, a well-documented lover of junky fast food, decided to pay for the cheapest and most hyper-processed food he could get his hands on: a spread of McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King and Domino’s Pizza. And thus, whereas the last administration sought to encourage healthy nutrition by way of promoting eating your veggies, the current president laid out a spread of some of the most unhealthy food America has to offer — and did so photographed with open arms. In an administration where the U.S. Department of Agriculture sought to change the regulations surrounding school food because they believed that it was better to serve blood pressure-spiking foods in favor of healthier fare, it should surprise no one that the president wouldn't think twice of serving world-class championship athletes the very kinds of foods that would likely make the three staff nutritionists feel faint. The reason that nutritionists for elite athletic programs exist — and probably cringe at the thought of the president of the United States encouraging their players to eat these kinds of meals — is because these players need prime nutrition at every meal, not the high-salt, high-sugar, cholesterol-raising diabetes-risking fare you’ll find in fast food joints. And several players gleefully took several extra burgers or nuggets home with them, which effectively turns the fast food buffet into several meals for student-athletes who are being asked to learn and stick to healthier eating habits for their own health, safety and performance. Elite athletes, nutritionists and doctors know, run a larger risk of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or "enlarged heart," because push their bodies harder than even their bodies are sometimes capable; it’s a side-effect of rigorous training. The heart works overtime to ensure that enough oxygen gets where it needs to go, and that’s already difficult when you’re a linebacker’s size and moving that fast that often. Anything that makes it harder for an athlete's heart to work — like a sub-optimal diet of heavily processed fried foods — increases that risk. This isn't just ideological nutritional purity at this point: We have lost some of our greatest athletes to heart failure at young ages related to this condition, and lost too many to count before their legacies could be fully developed. It’s already hard to drive the point about nutrition being important home for a young athlete, and help encourage them to stay dedicated to their regimen, when they’re being enticed by the president to veer off the course set by the specialists in their lives. To make matters worse, I cannot imagine how many student athletes across the country are now pulling up to their practices, training equipment in one hand and a carton of nuggets in the other, prepared to tell their coaches, But President Trump and the Clemson team eat it! (If you are one of those coaches or parents reading this, assure them that no, they most certainly don’t. One of the Clemson players was overheard by a reporter during the event saying, “Our nutritionist must be having a fit!”) Now, don’t get me wrong: There are some athletes who get their fuel through quantities of less-than-stellar foods that would send many of us flying to the emergency room. U.S. Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps has a noted history of both six-pack abs and a diet that makes my blood pressure rise simply by rattling it off: A pound of pasta, a five-egg omelette, an entire pizza. Clearly, elite athletes are remarkable beings with extraordinary needs to fuel an incredible skill. But this dinner is about more than that. An athlete requires a lot more than just skill to succeed, and a team like Clemson certainly knows it. And, sure, a single meal isn’t necessarily going to ruin year’s worth of dedication to their craft — though eating cheap junk food for the calories is almost assuredly a addiction their trainers have worked hard to help them break — nor does it sully a championship win. But we have to remember that our athletes have to be handled carefully and, for that, a table full of Big Macs with sauce packets in the gravy boats simply doesn’t cut the mustard.<doc-sep>Former NFL player Reggie Bush said Monday he thought President Trump’s “American fast food” spread in celebration of the Clemson Tigers was a disservice to what the team had accomplished. Earlier this month, the college football team scored their second national championship in three seasons, defeating the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide with a final score of 44-16. In a visit to the White House following their victory, Trump told reporters Monday that he foot the bill for a feast that included “lots of hamburgers” and “lots of pizza.” BURGER KING TROLLS PRESIDENT TRUMP WITH ‘HAMBERDER’ TWEET "We have some very large people that like eating, so I think we're going to have a little fun," he said. But the gesture didn’t sit well with Bush –who took to Twitter on the subject around midnight – saying Trump should’ve done more for the team. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all, @ClemsonFB you guys deserve better you are world champs and this is the honor you receive from our nations leader! ?” he tweeted. “This is disrespectful on so many levels, just a huge slap in the face after that kind of performance! SMH!” The reception featured stacks of wrapped burgers from Wendy’s, as well as boxed burgers from McDonalds and pizza. French fries were also available in White House cups that bore the presidential seal. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP At the time, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said much of the White House residence staff had been furloughed due to the ongoing partial government shutdown, "so the president is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone's favorite fast foods." Bush, responding to someone who commented on his original post, later wrote that if he lived in the nation’s capital, he “would have taken that whole team to dinner at a nice restaurant after seeing this!” Fox News’ Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. (CNN) — On Monday night, President Donald Trump hosted the Clemson University football team at the White House to celebrate the team’s victory in the national college playoffs. Because of the government shutdown, Trump decided to pay, out of pocket, for a boatload worth of fast food to feed the players. And just before the team arrived, this photo was taken. From Twitter/The White House Asked about the spread, Trump had, well, a lot to say. “I like it all. I like it all,” he began. “It’s all good stuff, great American food. And it’s going to be very interesting to see at the end of this evening how many are left. Pressed on whether he preferred McDonalds or Wendy’s, Trump expounded – at length: “If it’s American, I like it. It’s all American stuff. … But it’s good stuff and we have the national champion team, as you know, Clemson Tigers. And they had a fantastic game against Alabama and they’re all here. They’re right outside the room and I think we’re going to let you see them. But I’ll bet you, as much food as we have — we have pizzas, we have 300 hamburgers, many, many french fries, all of our favorite foods. I want to see what’s here when we leave, because I don’t think it’s going to be much. The reason we did this is because of the shutdown. We want to make sure that everything is right, so we sent out, we got this. And we have some wonderful people working in the White House. They helped us out with this.” Twitter went wild. And yes, the photo is amazing. (Please note there is a massive stack of Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. No one eats those. NO ONE.) Trump tweeted about the spread Tuesday, saying, “Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamburgers etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!” But there’s also something interesting – and telling – in the photo. It is, in a word, Trumpian. I’ve written before about the oddity of Trump’s appeal to the average Joe – a very wealthy man who has lived in New York City his entire life and whose taste trends toward gold (or at least gold-plated). It seems like a very, very weird fit. Most people don’t live and work in a building they own. Or have silk draperies. And wine with their name on it. And, yes, steaks with their name on them. Part of the answer lies in fast food. Trump loves it. Revels in his love for it. And uses it – as he did Monday night – as some sort of stand-in for patriotism or America First-ism or, well, something.