RS and others: I haven't followed G* very closely over the past month or more, but I do have a few comments (all imo as always) on some of the recent posts here. I have only skimmed the posts, so some of my comments may be moot.
1. Even though G*LP is a Bermuda company, they are still traded on Nasdaq and registered under the '33 and '34 securities acts, and therefore must adhere to SEC rules applicable to those acts.
2. I disagree with PCS that the Safe Harbor allows BLS to make all of his specific statements. The Safe Harbor is designed for forward-looking statements. BLS made statements in conf. calls such as the Indian SP is basically secured (back in mid 00), fixed phones will be rolled out by 3Q00, 4Q99 (that's right, 99) revenue would be around $x million (I don't have the specific number, but I don't think that G* has yet to hit that revenue number; the estimate was given in late Dec. of 99). He's given many other mis-statements of fact, not projections.
3. If you want more projections that are wrong, just look at the G* website. The dates that it gives as to when countries will come into service has been dreadfully wrong in most instances. These are considered disclosures by the company unless stated otherwise (i.e., it's the same as making a press release). I don't recall seeing anything on the G* website stating that the rollout dates are estimates until somewhat recently.
I'll go on record as saying that I have never advocated a class action suit against any company; but, imo, BLS went over the top with G*. Perhaps he had "good intentions" in when he may consider as being aggressive with interpretations of the facts so that he could raise funds for G*, but that's not legal. You can't misrepresent the facts of a company to defraud future (and current) investors just to get access to debt / equity markets. That doesn't mean that the class actions will be successful; I think that G* will go into BK protection prior to paying any lawyers for class actions.
That being said, I won't opt into any class action suit because I'm generally against them, and the generally slimey lawyers that initiate them. |
