I've followed a significant number of similar situations... and what you describe in terms of your own experience, is perfectly consistent with what I've seen in every instance.
The issue that points out is, as you addressed it... that it wasn't just money you invested, but, something more of yourself in terms of emotion... caring... hopes and dreams.
The market itself is heartless, but the process isn't purely mechanical... certainly not in terms of people's experience of it... or in terms of the result of the process being as much an aggregate of investors emotions in the short term, as it is of their realization of facts in the longer term...
"The silly bastards at the helm for whatever reasons have managed to totally destroy any market interest in this asset ...and so far there is precious little to suggest that it will ever be worth any more that it is now."
It's really not that uncommon in the markets... for managements to either INTEND to fail, or to not care if they do.
The value of the assets isn't ever the point. They probably couldn't succeed in any stock promotion without having at least a "reasonable" value in fact to present as if it will benefit shareholders. But, that there are real assets which exist, that are presented as "the value" you are supposed to consider in analyzing an investment... should never be confused with a value that DOES accrue to shareholders benefit... It is the ATTACHMENT of value to shares, far more than the value itself, that is the POINT...
And, that's still the key unanswered question here... is how they managed to NOT end up actually owning a known value that appears that by all rights it should have ended up being owned by them... but still didn't.
Many people won't believe that, of course... but, longer experience will easily convince you that many, probably most, of the "opportunities" presented for investors really are exactly and only of the sort recently described as "life style" companies... whose primary purpose is to provide paychecks to those running them, as they sell shares along with hopes and dreams for a living... while not really ever intending or expecting to have a need to do much more than that. Success in the business would tend to be disruptive and inconvenient for many of those "lifestyle" company promoters... who are succeeding just fine selling shares for a living... and don't really want to work any harder at running a real business... which success would require.
What differentiates "real" companies... from those posturing good stories while never intending to create more than the "pitch" ? IMO, that should be the primary focus of your effort in "observing" the stocks you choose follow... There is no shortage of compelling stories being told by compelling story tellers... but only a small fraction of the stories will ever prove out. Traders, to succeed, only need to know the "routine" that the promoters follow... and time their trades to match the timing of the promotional efforts to synchronize timing in buying and selling with the valleys and peaks that promotion, as opposed to performance, can produce.
Investors... have to look at different things... judge using different criteria... adopt different perspective on timing... and modify their own behavior to minimize risks and maximize potential... by recognizing how the market DOES work in fact, that isn't the same as investors are taught... by those seeking to line the sheep up to make sheering them for a living easy work.
In the markets, if you aren't making money, and you aren't a cynic... that makes you one of the sheep...
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