Martin Shkreli bought 50% of a pharmaceutical company that said it was shutting down and now the stock is up 600%
Late Thursday night, pharmaceutical company KaloBios disclosed that an investor group involving Shkreli acquired more than 50% of the company's outstanding stock and is now in discussions to keep the company in operation.
As a result, shares of KaloBios were up more than 600% in pre-market trade on Thursday.
Last Friday, KaloBios said in a release that it was going to wind down its operations and discontinue the development of the two drugs it was working on.
And so with the company effectively dead in the water - and the stock down about 93% for the year through Friday - investors figured this story was over. Or even worse, might have been shorting the stock aggressively on its way towards $0.
Whoops!
Shkreli first came into the public eye earlier this fall when presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called out pricing practices of his company Turing Pharmaceuticals, which raised the price of one drug 5,000%.
In its release Thursday, KaloBios executive chairman Ronald Martell said, "We have received communications from Mr. Shkreli informing us of his group's ownership position, and a proposal to continue the company's operations. Our board of directors is prepared to entertain any constructive proposal, which we will act upon promptly. Addressing short-term cash needs is our first priority, and we continue to be open to further dialogue."
So far this week shares of KaloBios were up about 130% as Shkreli built up his stake.
And so someone knew that there was a buyer out there. They just didn't know it was Shkreli.
Here's the outrageous chart.
