The company "is worth more alive than dead," said Joe Kinnison, a money manager with American Express Financial Advisers, which holds 3.8 million Sunbeam shares.

Mr. Perelman's Sunbeam shares became worthless, and he sued Morgan Stanley in 2003.

Sunbeam granted the Perelman holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., five-year warrants to purchase 23 million Sunbeam shares at an exercise price of $7 a share.

Howard Gittis, vice chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes, said in a statement that the agreement was good for all investors because "these warrants will only have value if Sunbeam shares appreciate from current levels."

Mr. Elson's Sunbeam shares, including the $100,000 worth he bought with his own money, lost much of their value.

Despite the performance, Sunbeam shares rose 25 cents, or 4.4 percent, yesterday to $5.9275.

Ronald O. Perelman's holding of 14 million worthless Sunbeam shares may turn out to be his best investment in years.

Wall Street seemed to respond to his blunt message, and Sunbeam shares rose 75 cents, closing at $19 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sunbeam shares, which closed at $27.125 yesterday, down 62.5 cents, have lost nearly half their value since their 52-week high on March 4, two days after the company announced its acquisitions but before it issued first-quarter warnings.

The number of Sunbeam shares sold short by investors betting on a slide in the stock price, and not yet repurchased by them, doubled in July from June to 513,000, the most since August 1995.