Liberty Media has announced a stock spin-off whose rationale isn’t all that clear to me. For anyone who hasn’t heeded warnings to stay clear of businesses that you can’t understand and Enron wasn’t reason enough for you, recent events should have provided enough confirmation.

Now this certainly does not mean that there isn’t a great opportunity buried in there somewhere and I intend to take some time to understand better what they are doing . . . if I can. And, just because I don’t get it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good thing. It just means that I’d better watch out because if I don’t understand how it works, how am I ever going to tell when it is showing signs of ceasing to work in time to get out?

However, for now, it just isn’t clear if, how, and for whom this move is going to increase value. Is this another one of those bad times announcements that we have been seeing lately or is it a good idea? Don’t know, but there are so many imponderables and cross currents in this market right now that this one looks like one to watch perhaps, but most likely to just walk on by.