Here's another piece of garbage from Herb at Thestreet.com
thestreet.com
Yesterday's item on IDT (IDTC:Nasdaq), the telecommunications company and parent of Net2Phone, set the Hostile React-O-Meter in motion. (Outa control, I tell ya, outa control.) "What's your point?" groused more than one emailer. "I wouldn't exactly call this journalism, responsible or otherwise," griped another. "I hope I didn't pay a subscription to have articles like the above written," e-scribbled still a third.
Why, they all wanted to know, did I dare question a $25 mil loan by the company to Lermer Overseas Telecommunications, a seemingly related party that, as far as anybody knows, doesn't technically exist, when that's such a small part of the company's overall story?
Because (as I told the company, which asked the very same question) relationships and deals like IDT's speak volumes about the culture of the company. And culture plays perhaps the most important role in every company's fundamentals, or lack thereof.
Here's a company making one of, if not the largest loans it has ever made to any company. Don't you think it would've looked into whether the company legally existed? If IDT was this sloppy in checking out Lermer, what about other transactions?
Further, was a loan to Lermer the best thing the company could do with $25 million? It's a big question, considering the cozy relationship between IDT founder Howard Jonas and Lermer founder Simon Lermer? (You can't trust anyone these days.)
Makes me wonder what Lermer really does. Neither Simon Lermer nor his attorneys have returned my calls. |
