Extra TinyMCE editor strips and tags?

I recently got this working. You should search and replace metaname with your meta box name.

The key to maintaining formatting was using wpautop(); when saving the data.

add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'add_metaname_box');

add_action( 'save_post', 'metaname_save');

function add_metaname_box() {
    add_meta_box(
        'metaname_id',
        __( 'metaname text', 'metaname_textdomain'),
        'metaname_custom_box',
        'page'
    );
}

function metaname_custom_box() {
    global $post;
    wp_nonce_field( plugin_basename( __FILE__ ), 'metaname_noncename' );
    $data = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'metaname_custom_box', true);
    echo <<<EOT
    <script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function() {
    jQuery("#metaname_custom_box").addClass("mceEditor");
    if ( typeof( tinyMCE ) == "object" &&
         typeof( tinyMCE.execCommand ) == "function" ) {
        tinyMCE.execCommand("mceAddControl", false, "metaname_custom_box");
    }
});
</script>
    <textarea id="metaname_custom_box" name="metaname_custom_box">$data</textarea>
EOT;
}

function metaname_save($post_id) {
    global $post;

    // Verify
     if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['metaname_noncename'], plugin_basename(__FILE__) )) {
         return $post_id;
     }
     if ( 'page' == $_POST['post_type'] ) {
         if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_page', $post_id ))
             return $post_id;
     } else {
         if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id ))
             return $post_id;
     }

     $key = 'metaname_custom_box';
    $data = wpautop($_POST[$key]);

     // New, Update, and Delete
     if(get_post_meta($post_id, $key) == "") 
         add_post_meta($post_id, $key, $data, true);
     elseif($data != get_post_meta($post_id, $key, true))
         update_post_meta($post_id, $key, $data); 
     elseif($data == "")
         delete_post_meta($post_id, $key, get_post_meta($post_id, $key, true));        
}