LEND is trading based on its prospect of survival. And its survival is based on liquidity at this point. That’s what selling $2.7B does, even at a discount, it gave LEND liquidity. It’s like pawn your valuables at a discount to meet a payment so that you are not forced into bankruptcy.

Margin calls – in this instance I think means that investors asked orginator (LEND) to put up more money/cash to help with increased loan losses.

Regarding the stock jump, even if LEND doesn’t earn anything, once it gets liquidity, then it should trade based on its book value. Right now it’s trading about .2x book with book/share at $34. Suppose write down takes its book value to $17, then the company can still be potentially worth $17, or perhaps more if it survives. This is like someone has cars and houses but no cash, and is facing a big cash payment (a liquidity squeeze). If nobody buys his assets (cars and houses), he’s facing bankruptcy. If he can sell his asset (LEND’s loan portfolio) at good enough prices, then after the big cash payment, he may still be in the black. I don’t know LEND’s financials in detail, so this is just a generic answer on why its stock jump once it sold its portfolio.