In a piece headlined “Falcone’s Folly,” The Washington Post looks at investor Philip Falcone’s ambitious LightSquared mobile broadband startup venture, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 14 after running into a regulatory roadblock.
“LightSquared’s debacle,” the Post says, “is a cautionary tale in Washington, where vast fortunes are made and lost at the hand of regulators.”
Coming from the secretive world of hedge funds as founder of Harbinger Capital, Falcone was ill equipped to deal with the openness of the federal regulatory process, the Post reports. With the right political and lobbying skills, LightSquared could have succeeded, observers said.
“Doing business with Washington, D.C., is very risky, even when you have an incredible idea that can save an industry from a rapidly growing threat,” telecom and tech analyst Jeffrey Kagan said. “Do it the right way and you win. Do it the wrong way and you are LightSquared.”
