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AnimalMuppetyesterday at 6:37 PM2 repliesview on HN

OK, wait a minute. Elsewhere in this discussion, people are saying that only a few of these AI companies are going to survive. For stocks, that can still be a reasonable investment - low odds, but still a positive expectation value - but for bonds, it's terrible. You're paying me single-digit interest when there's only a 20% chance that you live long enough to give me my principle back? Get outta here. Literally nobody should be investing in such bonds.


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FabHKyesterday at 9:06 PM

FWIW, a firm can go bankrupt and the stocks be worth zero with the bond holders being paid 100%. In fact, that's sort of the goal and "ideal" scenario (ideal given bankruptcy, of course, which in turn is not ideal).

In the real world, recovery rates for corporate bonds are between 30% to 70% or so, depending on the seniority of the debt and the collateral.

muelleroyesterday at 6:59 PM

If big tech bonds are a terrible deal for investors at 8%, then Google or OpenAI is getting a screaming deal by raising debt at that rate. Saying nobody should be investing in these bonds is very similar to saying that big tech should raise more debt.

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