South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says President Donald Trump’s history of attacks on the late Arizona Sen. John McCain bother him “greatly.” “It pisses me off to no end, and I let the president know it,” Graham, McCain’s longtime friend, said on CBS This Morning. Trump and McCain had a long running feud that extended past the Arizona Republican’s death. Trump in 2015 said McCain, who was a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam War, was “not a war hero.” As the nation mourned McCain’s passing, Trump remained mostly silent, only recognizing the Senator’s “service to our country” and re-lowering the White House flag on Monday after flying it at full staff earlier in the day. Graham, a Republican, said that while he’s still open to working with Trump, he’s bothered by the way the president has dealt McCain’s death. “The way he’s handled the passing of John is just, was disturbing,” he said. “I am not going to give up on the idea of working with this president. The best way I can honor John McCain is help my country.” Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com.<doc-sep>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>“You’ve got a lot of people you think are treating you unfairly. Fight back,” Graham said. “But you’re going to have to be a big man in a big office. McCain was a big man, worthy of a big country. Mr. President, you need to be the big man that the presidency requires.”<doc-sep>
Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamSenators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission Police reform fight hinges on qualified immunity On The Money: White House counters with .7 trillion infrastructure proposal, GOP unimpressed | USDA to start loan forgiveness for thousands of minority farmers MORE (R-S.C.) said Wednesday that President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE called him the previous day following his emotional speech on the Senate floor honoring the late Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainHannity tells Santorum he helped prevent Joy Reid from being fired Richard Hanania sees Trump as 2024 GOP nominee Why Republican politicians are sticking with Trump MORE (R-Ariz.) and told him he “did right” by McCain. “He called yesterday after my speech and he couldn’t have been nicer. He said, ‘That was very sad, I just want to let you know that you did right by your friend,’” Graham said on CNN’s “Inside Politics.” Sen. Lindsey Graham on President Trump and John McCain’s strained relationship: “When he says something bad about John, it pisses me off. [Trump] called yesterday after my speech... He said, ‘That was very sad, I just want to let you know that you did right by your friend.’” pic.twitter.com/wfHSh8M6TM — CNN (@CNN) August 29, 2018 Graham, who has sometimes been an ally to Trump, was asked during the interview how he’s able to support the president despite his close friendship with McCain, who long had an adversarial relationship with Trump. ADVERTISEMENT “I want to make sure this president, who I [didn't] vote for and ran against, is successful,” the 2016 presidential candidate responded. “I regret the relationship between the two. John is my dearest friend in the world and I’m going to try to help President Trump, and I will, because I think country first means that,” Graham added. Graham also said that he doesn’t agree with those who “say that the only way you can honor John McCain is to fight Donald Trump and try to kick him out of office. “I’m going to do what I think is best for the country using what John taught me about the country,” Graham said. Trump faced some criticism for being slow to honor McCain following his death on Saturday at the age of 81. McCain had been diagnosed with brain cancer a little more than a year prior. Multiple media outlets reported that Trump rejected a laudatory statement from the White House praising McCain as a "hero,” and the president faced bipartisan criticism when flags over the White House returned to full-staff Monday after being lowered for just more than a day following McCain’s death. Trump later ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until McCain's burial on Sunday and issued a statement expressing "respect" for the late senator. Graham told reporters on Tuesday that before his death McCain had advised him to help Trump "where you can, just don't get sucked into all of this bullshit."