Hi S.T. Don't you think it's more likely that Walt discovered the problem, most likely caused by the co. being rudderless from a CFO standpoint for so long, and that he urged prompt corrective action once he found out. The press releases have not suggested that S3 was changing its accounting method, but rather that an error had been made in complying with that accounting method. Consequently, Walt could not really suggest a "change" in accounting method.
I do think that there is some validity to your suggestion that Walt urged GJ to lay their cards on the table now, while the co. was down, so to speak, so that they would have a shot at a clean slate in '98.
The more fundamental problem, as I see it (which I don't think is inconsistent with many of your posts during your "shareholder value" period), is that the investment community is likely to have lost confidence in this management. This would be true whether the Street thought that management was dishonest or simply incompetent.
At this point, it would seem that they would have to pull some pretty good rabbits out of hats during at least the next 6 months. With the overall volatility of this market and the continual whine of "flights to quality", S3 has many competitors for investment dollars that have not a thing to do with high tech. (I've never done such a long post, sorry) All of this, of course, is IMHO, as an inexperienced investor, but one who likes to see my money grow with an horizon of somewhat less than 3 years. mph |
