When a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the government had illegally confiscated NextWave's share of the wireless spectrum, the celebration extended beyond the company's offices in Hawthorne, New York.
A number of investors who focus on troubled companies, including some who had invested in recent weeks, more than doubled their money on shares that were once nearly worthless.
"This is a David beats Goliath story," said one recent buyer of NextWave's stock.
Shares of NextWave Personal Communications are not publicly traded.
But they trade hands privately, through a few brokers, including specialists in the securities of troubled companies.
On Friday, NextWave's shares were quoted at nearly US$8, according to Amroc Securities, one of the specialists, up from US$3 before the court's ruling.
The stock could double from here, if, as expected, the company reaches a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, said Mitchell Socket, an analyst at Amroc.
Since NextWave was formed in 1995, its fortunes have risen and fallen based as much on the actions of regulators and judges as on the state of the telecommunications market.
NextWave was created to participate in special commission auctions of the wireless spectrum in 1996, which were aimed at entrepreneurs.
To attract small investors, the FCC had agreed to finance 90 percent of the cost of the cellular licenses.
The company bid US$4.7 billion, and came up with its US$470 million down payment by selling privately placed stock and obtaining a short-term loan.
NextWave expected to repay the debt, as well as make its interest payments to the government, through an initial public offering and by issuing high-yield bonds.
But the company was thwarted by a disruption in the public markets that made the money difficult to raise.
At other times, financing was delayed by disputes with the FCC.
Ultimately, NextWave filed for bankruptcy protection in June 1998.
The FCC seized NextWave's licenses and auctioned them again in January; the winning bidders included Verizon Wireless and business partners of AT&T Wireless and Cingular.
Since March, when NextWave's lawyer argued before the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, activity in the company's shares has picked up, traders said.
In Friday's decision, the court ruled that the commission had acted improperly.
Recent buyers of NextWave's shares include some of the largest investors in distressed securities, according to traders making a market in the shares.
These include Cerberus Capital Management and Resurgence Asset Management, two firms which both run large partnerships devoted to trading the debt of financially troubled companies; and Credit Suisse First Boston, the brokerage firm, which has invested in the debt of troubled companies.
Some of these investors as well as the Loews Corp -- the Tisch family's hotel, tobacco and insurance conglomerate -- have been among the earlier backers.
Executives at Credit Suisse and Cerberus declined to comment; executives at Loews and Resurgence did not return telephone calls.
One of the largest NextWave shareholders is Bay Harbour Management, which controls some 7 percent of NextWave's stock, and bought its shares at prices ranging from as low as 25 cents around the time the company filed for bankruptcy protection to US$3 a share in recent weeks.
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