Tommy D., you're point(s) are grossly wide of the mark.
1. You say: "If you have a legitimate complaint, let the TSE investigate it."
What a hoot. The TSE couldn't find ice in Greenland. Viz, Bre-X, Indo-Pacific, et al. Lax securities regulation is making a laughing stock of Canadian exchanges.
2. You say: "It seems to me that if Cowpland violated the rules, he could be subject to prosecution... ."
In the U.S., abolutely. With proof of a failure of company controls, it also could lead to delisting of the stock. In Canada, he'll probably get away with it.
3. You say: "your loss as a shareholder only exists if the stock price continues to remain depressed and if you can argue that you would have sold at the same time as Cowpland did... ."
What acne cream do you use? Here you have a CEO touting his stock to others (i.e. "buy, buy, buy") by publicly claiming earnings will be good precisely when he's selling because he knows they will be terrible. He sold out both old AND new shareholders.
4. You say: "your loss is not attributable to the alleged inside selling .. ."
What of the suckers who believed Cowpland in August and bought shares based on his fraudulent misrepesentations?
5. You say: "your loss is ...attributable to ... the markets [sic] analysis of the Company's present and future prospects as a result of a poor quarter."
Not the whole picture. The company's stock price will suffer, also, due to the substantially diminished credibility of Corel itself -- thanks to none other than Cowpland himself. Why should mutual funds, pension funds, analysts, or individual investors on Wall Street or in Toronto, for that matter, believe anything this bum says anymore? His self-dealing is a matter of record. His word cannot be trusted. At the very best, he is a moron who doesn't known how well his own company's products are selling. More compellingly, the evidence suggests he is a self-aggrandizing liar -- the kind of captain who says "women and children last" as the boat begins to leak. The reason good tech companies "guide" earnings forecasts is precisely to build confidence in the reliability of their word and amiration for their skill at knowing their business. Hence, often enough, you will see companies issue "earnings warnings" if analysts are overly optimistic or a glitch has occurred in the business plan. Their stock price usually goes down, but only temporarily. When later such companies "guide" earnings estimates higher again, the price rebounds because analysts have learned to trust the company. But what of Corel, eh? The next time Cowpland tries to say anything about earnings, sales, inventories, or even yesterday's weather, why should anyone believe him? The guy's established he's either a moron or a knave.
6. You say: "implicit in the press releases relating to the sale , in my view, was an addmission [sic] that the Banks in effect forced the sale by Cowpland... ."
An "admission" is something confessed by the perpetrator. To my knowledge, no bank has made such an "admission". The claim that Cowpland chose to sell a quarter of all his holdings in Corel because it was a convenient time for him to pay off debts was made only by Cowpland himself. Even he didn't claim it was a "forced" sale. He said only that he chose to pay off debts at that time. Perhaps instead of an "admission" you mean Cowpland gave us a "phony alibi".
7. You say: " I am more interested in the potential of some of the new products and potential joint ventures or partnerships with other companies as that may ultimately lead to greater shareholder value."
The streets of history are littered with the rotting carcasses of companies that started out with a good product and lost everything because of dishonest or inept management. Cowpland has exposed himself as unworthy of investors' trust. You're right about this much: short of a buyout or "joint venture" with some mysterious partner who will relieve Cowpland of any control in the company, shareholder value will remain dismal -- or worse. This company is done. You can stick a fork in it. |
