Leroyt,
The Articles of Amendment filed by BNEZ on June 4, 1998, state "That the Board of Directors is authorized to issue, at a date and time to be established by the Chief Executive Officer, a dividend payment to all holders of common stock, said dividend to be payable in either currency or common stock, at a rate to be determined by the Chief Executive Officer without any further action or deliberation by the Board of Directors."
IMHO, this means that the dividend is issued when the CEO says it is to be issued. So, the first order of business is to confirm that he in fact said issue it. Does anyone have any actual knowledge that this, in fact, occurred? Barring that, we should not be hammering the TA because we really don't know what is going on. And, I am not criticizing anyone here. I am just suggesting the proper course of study to determine what has happened.
Remember the PR where BNEZ announced that Mr. Ben Ezra and Mr. Weinstein planned to purchase up to $400,000 worth of stock. Let me see, now, if they collectively purchased $10,000, then they would have done exactly what the PR said they were going to do.
Did the PR say the dividend would be paid at a specific date and time? I don't recall that. I believe it said something to the effect that a dividend is declared as of a certain date. I think it was July 31. I don't think the PR said when it would be paid.
Why all this Clintonese? Well, please give Clinton credit. He's still President and the bottom line is, he's winning. He may be impeached. He will not be convicted.
BNEZ wants to win. They have tough obstacles to overcome. Playing word games with their adversaries may be what it takes. As shareholders, I believe we need to carefully consider each move they make and make our own investment decisions accordingly. Dah. I still trust management and, so long as what they do is legal, I am for fighting back (and I'm eyeballing the MM's or SHORTS here). Sure, there is a credibility issue here, but not really if mgmt has adherred strictly to the Articles. And, give me a break, the dividend is nothing. The timing of its announcement, however, was the whole point. (It didn't work, unfortunately.)
Anyway, the above is my take on the ephemeral, subliminal (credit Mitchell for this term) dividend. I hope we all see in the end that it was just another strategic play by BNEZ management to move the company ahead.
LONG on BNEZ
Jud |
