Integrated Resources, Inc.
Thesis
I was particularly focused on Integrated Resources which was playing unbelievable accounting games and financing itself with junk debt issued at 14%. The company was overpaying for office buildings and syndicating their ownership interest in uneconomic deals, leading to heavily negative cash flow and overstated earnings.
Did it work?
The short thesis hinged on Integrated Resources' unsustainable model—14% junk-coupon financing, negative cash flow, and overstated earnings from uneconomic real estate syndications. With no price data the magnitude of the gain can't be quantified, but the thesis dynamics were decisively confirmed: the company was ultimately unable to service its junk debt and collapsed into default/bankruptcy around 1990, exactly the failure mode the pitch described. Confidence is low only because no price performance is available to verify the short's realized return.