Excellent article on AZNT. It covers allegations and assertions by the company about individual(s) as well as points regarding news releases issued by the company and projections. Some of the major points that I wished had been more completely covered are:
1) The company, which sells more than 100 products that treat ailments ranging from stomach aches to liver disease, admits that it has fallen far short on many of the expectations it outlined in its press releases. But Michael Sylver, Amazon Natural's president, says Ms. Shell and others are to blame. "These people are part of an organized conspiracy to short our stock and ruin our company. We haven't been able to do anything else but fight them," he says.
2) Mr. Sylver says his company's lawsuit will also name 111 other message-board participants from Silicon Investor and Raging Bull that he says are involved in the conspiracy to trash the company. He says he obtained through "covert operations" the identities of many of those users, who post under aliases. He declines to elaborate.
that's a lot of individuals
Message 3878923
3) He also declines to say how he knows that Ms. Shell, and others, have actually established short positions in the stock. "All of that will come out in court," he says. "She is the kingpin behind it all."
Too bad that must remain a secret. It would benefit investors by knowing this now.
4) He says he doesn't have any evidence that Ms. Shell was personally
responsible for the threats or the shooting, but points to one of her
message-board postings, dated Oct. 21, 1998, the day before the shooting, as evidence that she knew it was going to happen. In it, Ms. Shell is writing to another user who has been critical of Amazon Natural Treasures, and says, "Y'know, tonto, I have the strangest feeling ... that we may be getting some'news' very soon. Perhaps within 24 hours?"
Ms. Shell denies having any involvement in the shooting or death threats. She laughed at the assertion, saying, "I do own a gun, but I don't think it has that kind of range." As for the message-board post, she says it was a joke poking fun at pro-Amazon participants on the boards who were "forever announcing imminent 'news' that never materialized."
After the shooting, Mr. Sylver filed a report with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The police say there was evidence that the building had been shot at. But a spokeswoman for the department says the case has been closed. "There were no witnesses and no suspects so there really wasn't anything we could do," she says.
What of all the "suspects" named on this thread? I thought there was a tape. Would that not qualify as a "witness"?
5) In January 1997, shortly after its stock began trading publicly, the company announced that it had developed "a cream protection against AIDS." The release said the company "is making all necessary arrangements for FDA approval."
Mr. Sylver says the company hasn't sought Food and Drug Administration approval for the cream -- which he says is "also a spermicide and it will stop any other sexual diseases" -- because it has been busy defending itself against the short-selling campaign. Winning FDA approval is complex and costly, and requires studies of a drug's safety and effectiveness. Mr. Sylver says the product has been tested on humans in Brazil.
I believe Riley was one of the first to give a heads up on this one:
Message 3878923
6)In another release, in April 1997, Amazon Natural announced it was "ready to satisfy the overwhelming nationwide request from consumers" for another invention: a chewing gum that will starts "to whiten your teeth within three minutes of chewing," prevents cavities and can be used instead of brushing. The release said the company would begin manufacturing the gum in six months.
Mr. Sylver says the company can't afford to buy the machinery necessary to produce the gum, and again blames short-sellers.
Overwhelming nationwide requests from consumers for another invention...interesting...would like to know more about this.
7) In December 1997, the company announced it had developed a new sweetener to compete with products such as Equal and Sweet 'n Low. Amazon Natural predicted it would be in full scale production in the first quarter of 1998, and that sales for the first year would be more than $50 million. In a later press release, in September 1998, it said the sweetener would be sold through 250 outlets of Sweet Factory, a candy retailer.
But Mr. Sylver says the Sweet Factory deal never came to fruition, and says Amazon Natural only began selling the product five months ago. He says Amazon Natural was going to get the product into Sweet Factory stores through a distributor that was angling to buy the chain. But he says that deal fell through, and says it was an "oversight" that Amazon Natural never put out another release informing investors that the deal wasn't going to happen.
For its part, a spokesman for Sweet Factory, which is based in Chicago, says such a deal would have been unlikely because the product doesn't fit in with its other offerings, which include mostly candy and gift items.
A company is "angling" to buy a chain. It does not happen yet an announcement is made of the distribution agreement...unique.
8) Moreover, Amazon Natural is the target of a trademark infringement suit filed by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America regarding the sweetener. The Orthodox Union asserts Amazon Natural ran an ad in a magazine called Kashrus that carried a logo indicating its sweetener product was kosher and suitable for Passover. The Orthodox Union says it owns a trademark on the logo, and is responsible for certifying products as kosher.
Mr. Sylver says he doesn't know anything about the lawsuit and says he has never heard of the Orthodox Union. "I have no idea what this is. We didn't advertise any products as kosher, and we didn't advertise in any Jewish magazines," he says.
But Howard Katzenstein of the Orthodox Union says he spoke with Mr. Sylver before the lawsuit was filed. "He was not cooperative," Mr. Katzenstein says.
The clerk's office of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., confirms the case was filed on May 25, 1999.
No one in contact with Sylver made comment about this issue posted on the internet? THAT interests me. I would have thought his attorney or one of the thread leaders would have made comment about it at some time. Hard to imagine it not coming up in discussion...
9) Message-board users have also taken issue with other predictions by Amazon Natural. In press releases, the company predicted annual sales of $75 million in 1998, $125 million in 1999 and $250 million in 2000. Mr. Sylver says the actual sales figure for 1998 is "around $800,000." He says the bulk of the company's sales come from orders placed directly to the company.
"We will eventually meet those [revenue] goals and even surpass them," Mr. Sylver says. He says that assuming the lawsuit is able to stop the online bashers, the company should have sales of $75 million and earnings of $50 million next year.
"Once this is all over and done, we're going to get back in there and do everything we said we were going to do," he says.
that would be great...
|
