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Comment by mort96 | Hacker News Reader

> The US getting 10% of Intel without any payment is very bad. Was there no shareholder vote?

I know that this is how it was reported everywhere including here, but I recently learned that it's apparently false. The US just bought shares. From https://www.reuters.com/business/us-take-10-equity-stake-int...:

> Under the agreement, the U.S. will purchase a 9.9% stake in Intel for $8.9 billion, or $20.47 per share, which represents a discount of about $4 from Intel's closing share price of $24.80 on Friday.

So they bought a 9.9% stake at a slight discount. (And just have to go back a couple of weeks to find Intel's stock price at under $20.47 per share, so I'm not sure you can really call it a real "discount").

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Much of that money is money that was granted by Congress already.

> Much of that money is money that was granted by Congress already

Not to buy shares.

> "Not to buy shares."

And therein lies the problem. Trump and his cult up and changed the terms of the grant after the grant had already happened.

> The purchase of the 433.3 million Intel shares will be made with funding from the $5.7 billion in unpaid grants from the Biden-era CHIPS Act and $3.2 billion awarded to Intel for the Secure Enclave program, also awarded under Trump's predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

Quote from the article

How is $4 off the closing price not a discount?

I don't know when the deal was agreed. Two weeks ago, on august 8th, the share price was $19.95, so if the price was set then, the US over-paid a bit.

I don't know how long it takes between when the price is set and when the deal becomes public. If the final price was set on friday, then yeah, there was a slight discount (though even then, the discount was within Intel's normal random short term share price fluctuations).

Maybe it's completely fair to call this a proper discount, I'm genuinely not familiar enough with the finance world to say. Regardless, I feel that this is important context; it's not like Intel's share price has been stable at between $24 and $25 per share for years and then the US comes in and buys at $20.

I suppose it’s a difference of viewpoint, but I understand what you’re getting at. Thanks for explaining it. I wouldn’t consider locking a mortgage at 6% and then having rates rise in the interim as a discount, maybe a lucky break!

ah, so the government missed a dip and made their own. nice.

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