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>Shares of Biogen plummeted Thursday after the company halted the trial of Alzheimer's disease drug aducanumab, which it was developing in partnership with Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai. Biogen's stock tanked more than 29 percent Thursday, posting its worst day since Feb. 2005 because the drug was expected to be a blockbuster. Biogen is one of the largest biotechs in the world with a $63 billion market value. The company said in a statement that the decision to stop the phase 3 trial is based on an independent group's analysis showing that the trials were unlikely to "meet their primary endpoint." The recommendation to stop the studies was not based on safety concerns, Biogen said. Expectations had been high for aducanumab as Goldman Sachs analysts had projected at one time that sales of the drug could reach $12 billion. "This disappointing news confirms the complexity of treating Alzheimer's disease and the need to further advance knowledge in neuroscience," said Michel Vounatsos, chief executive officer of Biogen, in a statement. "We are incredibly grateful to all the Alzheimer's disease patients, their families and the investigators who participated in the trials and contributed greatly to this research." Analysts weighed in after the announcement shocked the Street. "This was the largest opportunity and the most high-profile pipeline event for trial events in the entire space, you could argue, let alone for Biogen," said Jared Holz, a health-care analyst at Jefferies. "We've been talking about this for several years with an expectation we'd get a readout in 2020. There was obviously a chance you could have a futility analysis in 2019, but investors thought we were past that point." "All you are left with now is a value stock – it's essentially Gilead, a cheap stock with an unproven pipeline and a company that will be more reliant on M&A," Holz added. Biogen designs therapies for neurological and hematological disorders, ranging from multiple sclerosis to hemophilia. Though Biogen remains a key player in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, mounting competition had forced the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company into new areas such as Alzheimer's. William Blair downgraded Biogen to market perform from outperform following the news. "We expect Biogen's stock to trade down to $240-260 (~20%) on this negative news, and we cannot find any near term catalysts that would help the stock recover back above $300," SVB Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges said in a note. Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison called the discontinuation of the trial "a major negative." — CNBC's Thomas Franck and Michael Bloom contributed reporting<doc-sep>
Bank of America CEO on raising minimum wage: It's an investment in our teammates President Joe Biden stops to talk to the media as he drives a Ford F-150 Lightning truck at Ford Dearborn Development Center, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in Dearborn, Mich. A visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin on December 07, 2017 in London, England. Ethereum's 27-year-old founder says we're in a crypto bubble. Did it just burst? Vitalik Buterin, co-founder and inventor of Ethereum speaks during Samsung Developer Conference in San Jose, California on October 30, 2019. QAnon is spreading in churches. These pastors are trying to stop it Left: James Kendall is the Senior Pastor at Grace Community Church in Madera, California. Kendall gave a sermon at his church warning congregants about QAnon. Right: Ben Marsh is a pastor at First Alliance Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has seen members of his church share conspiracy theories on their social media pages. Carlos Ghosn says he has to tell his side of the story TOPSHOT - Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn looks on before addressing a large crowd of journalists on his reasons for dodging trial in Japan, where he is accused of financial misconduct, at the Lebanese Press Syndicate in Beirut on January 8, 2020. - Ghosn arrived at the venue, making his first public appearance since skipping bail in Japan. The fugitive tycoon, who denies any wrongdoing, skipped bail while awaiting trial on multiple charges of financial misconduct including allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of $85 million. (Photo by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images) BTS and McDonald's launch exclusive meal with two new dipping sauces B25_25594_R James Bond (Daniel Craig) prepares to shoot in NO TIME TO DIE, an EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios film Credit: Nicola Dove © 2020 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Scan Of The Brain Of A Patient Affected By Alzheimer's Disease Axial Section. Intersections Of Lateral Ventricles Are Dilated. (Photo By BSIP/UIG/Getty Images) (CNN Business) — Biogen announced Thursday it would cancel a promising drug trial it hoped could treat Alzheimer’s disease. The company’s stock fell more than 28%. Shares of Biogen are on track for their worst day since February 2005. Biogen (BIIB) said in a statement that it had decided to end the Phase 3 trials of the drug, called aducanumab, after an independent audit revealed the drug was unlikely to work. Aducanumab was widely believed to be the company’s next blockbuster drug because of its success in earlier trials. But treating Alzheimer’s is proving elusive. Biogen is the latest in a series of pharmaceutical companies to halt research on Alzheimer’s treatments in recent years. Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Merck have all canceled Alzheimer’s drug trials. “This disappointing news confirms the complexity of treating Alzheimer’s disease and the need to further advance knowledge in neuroscience,” Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos said. “We are incredibly grateful to all the Alzheimer’s disease patients, their families and the investigators who participated in the trials and contributed greatly to this research.” The company said it will continue to work on developing treatments for Alzheimer’s, which kills more Americans than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The safety of the drug, which Biogen developed with Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai, did not play a role in the decision to end the trials according to a statement.