I wrote to Jack and actually got a polite reply. Didnt think he had it in him.
My read is that they are intending to try to keep BNEZ in operation. Of course that may just be what they have to say in order to do the spinoffs. Note especially his reply to my question #4.
I'd much appreciate other opinions of what he said.
Eric
*****
Mr. Davies:
Thanks for the e-mail. I hope this sheds some light on your questions.
The future of BNEZ is very much up in the air. While our three main
products are fine pieces of software, the company simply was not able to
attain sufficient capital to market them into a position of the top five
sellers in the chains where they were placed. The software remains, in our
opinion anyway, ahead of the curve in terms of competing products, although
any successful version of PMA will require online downloading capability if
it is ever to be revived. BNEZ holds no shares in any of the spin offs, so
the success or failure of those spin offs will only have, at best, a
secondary effect on the capital future of the company. The real potential
left in the company is the value of the software.
regarding your specific questions:
(1) any efforts we might be involved in would be confidential and not
subject to discussion. The primary guide for corporate statements about
potential buy outs or mergers is found in an SEC decision "in re Carnation"
that is about nine years old. You should not read anything into a "no
comment" statement other than the fact that we are not commenting and have
nothing to comment on.
The plethoa of rumors, statements, claims, threats, and everything else on
the boards are a concern to us, only because they seem to be co-ordinated
by a small group of individuals, based in both the United States and
Canada, posting under multiple aliases, and designed, for some reason, to
generate undue interest in the stock.
(2) employees and consultants total 10
(3) PMA is supported, but we are not actively marketing the product. We
have ceased using Disclosure and are working on a system that accesses
alternative data bases including EDGAR. Strangely enough, the greatest
interest in our software products is centered around Private Placement
Master, and sales of that product, although small by industry standards, is
steady.
(4) yes
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. There
is no need to keep this private, and it would be inappropriate for me to
answer your questions with information that was not available to everyone.
Jack Ben Ezra
**********
Here was the message I sent
**********
Mr. Ben Ezra,
I am a shareholder of BNEZ- holding for me what is rather large position.
I have confidence that as the principal shareholder you are doing your best to return maximum value from our shares and I'd like you to know the effort is appreciated.
I would like to know about the company BNEZ that will remain after the spin-offs have been completed. The following questions are intended to help me to understand the future potential of the company (if any).
1) I have read your point-blank denial that there is anything going on that justifies the action in the stock. I read this to say that despite all the rumors there is no deal to sell BNEZ near completion. Is there any effort still being made to sell BNEZ or PMA to another company?
2) How many active employees of BNEZ are there?
3) Is PMA still a supported product? Are updates to the database available?
4) Is there any development effort for new products or upgrades to old ones happening at BNEZ?
I think you understand where I'm going. Any information you can impart would be appreciated. I'll keep your response private if you request it.
Eric Davies |
