I Fall Down

19 March 2010 By Robert Cyran Follow @rob_cyran

Elevation Partners has poured money into a few concentrated bets but is struggling to find what it’s looking for profits. The fund where U2 s frontman is a cofounder is now seeing its biggest gamble the turnaround of handset maker Palm starting to unravel.

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

Palm shares fell more than 25 percent by early afternoon on March 19 after the company reported a loss of $22 million in the quarter ending Feb. 28. The tech company shipped 960,000 smart phones, but only sold 408,000. Palm estimates revenue for the current quarter will be below $150 million. Analysts had projected the firm's sales would be $306 million.

Palm has $592 million of cash, cash equivalents and shortterm investments on its books, and $387 million of longterm debt.

Elevation Partners has invested $460 million for a 30 percent stake in Palm in the form of common stock, preferred stock and warrants.

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *