Dale, I would be surprised if ANY of those ZIXI shares bought by the Huizenga group were boxed immediately.
Consider the investors: Wayne Huizenga, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Jack Welch's secretary, etc. All fine and smart people, but not traders, and shorting and boxing may not be in their mindset (or even vocabulary).
Consider the timing: On March 23, 2000, when this deal was announced, most people did not realize that the internet bubble had just burst. And this deal had then been in the pipeline for weeks if not months. The Internet was still the gold brick road.
No, I think they did this thinking that ZIXI was going to make money and the stock price was going TO DA MOON! Obviously they didn't look at this very hard, but hey, Jack Welch is no stock picker. He bought ZixIt and he bought Honeywell. Actually I don't think anybody except Huizenga thought much about this.
Also, Huizenga as Vice Chairman would have had to file a Form 144 to sell shares, short or otherwise.
Don't get me wrong. I'm as cynical as you about this deal. But I tend to presume that any ZIXI long does what he does because he is stupid and venal (or uninformed and venal), rather than clever and venal. I may know them better than you do. So while I agree with your statement that "They would have been stupid not to lock in the profits then", I don't think that's persuasive evidence that they did. They WERE stupid. |
