You, the CEO of a publicly traded company, were giving a guy who operates under an alias an opportunity to make allegations he can't substantiate. Since then, you've made a lot of allegations you admit you can't substantiate. You've posted the picture of a guy after saying that he was a private person who didn't like to have his picture taken or published.
I don't care who you're dealing with and what they've done, your erratic behavior is beneath the standards of what should be expected from somebody who runs a public company.
Author: Atlanta Don
boards.fool.com
Patrick, from your first post:
<So please, continue with the civility on this board, which makes it so much better than anywhere else.>
A few hours later, you say, among other things:
<That said, I have learned when someone takes such trouble to bake false premises into questions, lengthy discussion is largely a waste of time: he is flogging a Party Line, facts be damned. Therefore, I think I will dispatch these issues briefly, as I doubt very much he fully believes his Party Line points himself.>
<When in your “12 questions” you lied that I had said the “only” evidence I had were some affidavits, I had a feeling about you, which is why I posted the link to the actual interview, so readers could see for themselves how bald was your lie (as you lied in a follow-up email to me and Bill Mann defending this error). Now I have just revealed lie after lie after lie after misstatement after false assumption after lie>
Patrick, I don't think you've illustrated lie after lie, I think you've been a bully and engaged in double talk and character assassination and ducked any issues you didn't want to address. You applaud civility and then call somebody who questions you a liar. You even talk out of both sides of your mouth in one sentence: <I believe that even the detractors here (as opposed to Yahoo) are well-intentioned, and are truly just calling it as they see it (though of late, there do seem to be someone with an agenda, eh?)>
Patrick, I've had a feeling about you as well, ever since you turned one of your quarterly conference calls into a forum for a whack job operating under the alias of “Bob O'Brien” to spin conspiracy theories. I was wondering why any reputable CEO of a publicly traded company would allow somebody they didn't know to take over a conference call, particularly somebody like "O'Brien".
But it turns out that you did know him. In your August 12 conference call on the lawsuit you said you'd first talked to “Bob O'Brien” in October of last year. On the January call, even though the two of you had talked previously, you pretended like you didn't know anything about “O'Brien” or his issues. A lie by omission. If you're an honest man, why didn't you just acknowledge that you had invited him on the call and endorsed his theories (clearly you do, otherwise you wouldn't have filed the lawsuit)?
Since you're calling somebody else a liar, here's some of the charade you put on in the January call (from the transcript):
<Patrick Byrne - Overstock.com - Chairman and President
There was a guy, Bob O'Brian.>
<Bob O'Brien Investor
You, probably, the name is not familiar. Let me start out by introducing myself. I am a shareholder and also a retired guy. I sold my company a few years ago and now I'm an investor and in my spare time I guess I created a web site NFI-info.net (ph) that tracks another company that is going through a lot of the same stock action that you guys are. Wall Street Journal actually wrote an article about it last year and I just thought it would be interesting to call in and I appreciate your taking the time by the way and just ask you a couple of questions. Maybe compare notes and share some observations because I really think there is a lot in common between the two situations.
I think I can explain what is going on with your stock and, basically, why so many people are saying mean things about you.>
<Patrick Byrne - Overstock.com - Chairman and President
I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT.
COMMENT BY O'BRIEN:
<PHASE 2 IS PRETTY INSIDIOUS; AND IT STARTS WITH BASICALLY LISTING YOU ON A FOREIGN EXCHANGE OR TWO. I CHECKED AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT OVERSTOCK HAS BEEN LISTED ON 5 DIFFERENT GERMAN EXCHANGES. THEY'RE IN FRANKFURT, IN BERLIN, MUNICH -- YOU'VE GOT ONE OTHER ONE. I AM JUST GOING TO GUESS THAT YOU DIDN'T CALL AND ASK FOR THAT.>
Patrick Byrne - Overstock.com - Chairman and President
It's news to me.
Bob O'Brien Investor
<You wonder why?>
Patrick Byrne - Overstock.com - Chairman and President
<I do.>
Now here's where it gets really rich. You and “O'Brien”, while pretending that you've never talked with each other, start questioning the integrity of two other people because of unsubstantiated allegations that they may know each other better than they let on.
O'Brien:
<I know I've taken up too much time. I just want to say one thing. Kramer, I just love the last conference call where he feathered through the -- I've only met the largest shareholder in my company in the fresh fruit section of the A&P. It killed me.
Patrick Byrne - Overstock.com - Chairman and President
<THEY'VE MET BEFORE -- IN YOUR MIND?>
You, the CEO of a publicly traded company, were giving a guy who operates under an alias an opportunity to make allegations he can't substantiate. Since then, you've made a lot of allegations you admit you can't substantiate. You've posted the picture of a guy after saying that he was a private person who didn't like to have his picture taken or published.
I don't care who you're dealing with and what they've done, your erratic behavior is beneath the standards of what should be expected from somebody who runs a public company. |
