"Stock Shock" Movie about Sirius XM now on Netflix
Netflix is now showing the movie "Stock Shock," a documentary exposing the alleged hedge fund manipulation of the American stock market. It was produced only months after the stock market crash of March 2009 by the independent production company Mohr Productions, Inc.. "We wanted to get the story out about corruption on Wall Street as soon as possible," says director Sandra Mohr. "Investors were losing their shirts and we believed the movie would help to educate and protect them."
It seems to have worked. Soon after the movie spotlighted the ravaged shares of Sirius XM, the company stock rose nearly 1000 percent, and the Securities Exchange Commission appears to have finally taken an interest in naked short selling. "Manipulative short selling was a primary reason shares of Sirius XM and so many other stocks tanked last March," says Mohr.
The documentary highlights the company and the history of Sirius XM Satellite Radio. When CEO Mel Karmazin managed to merge Sirius Radio and XM in 2008, most believed the stock was poised to go above its high of 9 dollars per share. That's when the stock was allegedly attacked by aggressive hedge funds and naked short-selling that drove the equity down to a horrifying .05 cents per share in early 2009. "Stock Shock" interviews individual Sirius XM investors who lost billions in stock value when the company nearly went bankrupt. The movie lays out a case blaming poor SEC regulation for the stock's demise.
"Stock Shock" also interviews the satellite radio's founder: Martine Rothblatt--formerly known as Martin Rothblatt. In 1994 Rothblatt, a male-to-female transsexual, underwent sex reassignment surgery and changed her name to Martine Aliana Rothblatt. She has since become a vocal advocate of transgenderism and later founded United Therapeutics in 1996. "She literally has an understanding of science that ranges from the vastness of the stars, to the microscopic world of cellular biology," says the director. "She is one of the most interesting and evolved people I have ever met."
Sirius XM is currently trading at about 70 cents per share and may face a mandatory reverse stock split later this year, but shareholders seem pleased the equity is, at least, heading in the right direction.
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