Infamous Short-seller, Shorts Himself!
San Francisco, CA--(ROOTERS BUSINESS NEWS)--Aug. 27, 1999-Auric Goldfinger (PHLX:AGF) has filed to sell the only outstanding share of himself short. In what is widely considered an unusual move by a publicly held corporation with only one outstanding share of common stock, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange which lists the company (Sym: AGF), had no comment.
The discovery of this unique financial move was found in an insider 144 filing with the SEC to sell the only outstanding share of Auric Goldfinger by the shareowner: Goldfinger himself.
AURIC GOLDFINGER: FILES TO SELL 1 SHARE 8/27/99 9:18
FORM 144 FILED AT THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ON 08/26/99
STEPHEN WORTHINGTON, POSSIBLY A RELATION OF AURIC GOLDFINGER,
HAS FILED TO SELL 1 SHARE OF AURIC GOLDFINGER [AGF]
THROUGH ACME & CO. CONTACT PHONE (800)-555-1212.
The Washington Service reports Form 144 (Proposed Sale of Securities)
filings released by the S.E.C. Further information on our services may
be obtained by calling (202) 778-1380
Auric Goldfinger, known to Silicon Investor thread participants as being an aggressive short-seller, has surprised even his more ardent followers. After his latest move became public through the 144 filing, Dr. Suess commented on Goldfinger's short position by saying that "this is either a stroke of genius or just plain foolish", in my opinion.
Goldfinger himself was able to largely finance his short-selling activities through an IPO, underwritten by Tollberg, Rapeus & Robus, LLC, using a single share of equity issued at $30,000,000. The buyer of this equity remains unknown, however, is suspected to be living somewhere in the Sudan.
When asked about his short sale of his only share of himself, Goldfinger was a little confused about how anyone found this out. Rather than deny the sale, Goldfinger admitted that he should have used the Philadelphia Exchange's new VWAP system, developed for the PHLX by Ashton Technologies, which offers complete anonymity of trades. "I guess I got caught short on that one.", were Goldfinger's only comments.
The proceeds from the sale of both Auric's IPO and now the short sale, his only outstanding share, are apparently being used to finance his enormous short position in The Ashton Technology Group, Inc.
Moron Buffoon, an internationally recognized value investor, was asked about being both long and short in oneself at the same time to finance another huge short position, "This is highly unique - actually it is a good way to extract value from all of the available equity in the market; unfortunately it is inherently risky and an extremely volatile situation. I wish I had thought of it though!"
Perhaps the most prolific and prominent poster to the Ashton message boards across the Silicon Investor and Yahoo! threads is MST2000. When interviewed for this article, his view of the situation was that Auric was moribund about his short position in Ashton and that he was taking a final stand. "Basically, you are looking at a real-life Captain Ahab. This guy has been chasing Moby Dick (Ashton's VTS launch) around because of his ego and now with the launch of the system, he is facing doom. The investors who have followed Auric on the short-side here better have on their lifejackets."
Probably sage advice.
One other poster on the SI Ashton message board, jsavage, who has been battling Auric of late, had a few words for the infamous short-seller, "Well now you have really done it - being a Hotdog and eating yourself! The guy is like one of those mogul skier types that would bounce from top-to-top of the moguls, but, I think he has basically caught an edge. Look out below!"
With today's launch of Ashton's VWAP trading system at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, many on Wall Street, as well as Main Street, consider this to be a watershed event in the history of the financial markets.
Time will tell whether Auric Goldfinger's investment strategies will pay off or sink him.
(The Rooters Business News takes no responsibility for the facts, or lack thereof, in this article. Fabrications are allowable under the First Amendment, Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States.) |
