Inside Story on GVIL sale. Nick Chinn, a gvil employee, has his own web page and often posts to news groups on GVIL modems. I have been following his posts for months. Anyway, on his page called "Inside GVIL" at accesscom.com
Nick (who now will be a BOCI employee) gives the inside scoop on what the deal is with GVIL:
>GV Sells Modem Business to Boca Research
>
>3/31/98
>
>Investors whine
>Okay, you've seen the press release. I've seen the Yahoo stock >message board chatter. [soapbox] I can say that there are a lot of >alarmist airhead investors out there. When a panicky seller gets >bitten on the stock market, they cry "lawsuit!" All I can say is, do >better research or just pay attention. If you thought GV management >sold investors down the river, take a look at the fact that the >company has lost big money for at least a year so don't whine about >hidden information. You bought into a sinking ship. Own up to it. >[/soapbox] I've got stock, too. >
>There is no such thing as GV anymore
>Now I want to clear up some confusion. If this deal goes through, >there is no more such thing as Global Village, the company. What >used to be the corporate entity Global Village must rename itself and >will develop and sell unannounced network products. If you >currently have GV stock you will be an owner in the "new" company >which is really the old Global Village with a new name no longer >doing GV products (did you follow that?).
>
>The Global Village product line and its core development and >support team go to Boca Research which now owns the GV name. >So when some investors speculate that Apple is going to partner up >with the new GV, to which entity they refer? Or do they know the >difference? I doubt it.
>So the funny thing is, I was shipped off to Boca. When the deal >completes, I will no longer be working for Global Village (nobody will >since that company dies), but I will still be working on products with >the Global Village name!
>Why was this done?
>GV's modem business still makes money but barely. Low >manufacturing volumes drive up costs when the only way to >compete in today's modem market is to constantly lower costs. GV >can't sustain at its current pace. Boca is good at manufacturing. In >addition, GV thinks it has the next hot product. The slim margins >generated by the modem business can't fully fund this new product >development. So GV management split the company up and >essentially created a startup. They spun off the core modem >business to a company it thinks can sustain the Global Village name.
>Is this a good deal for GVIL stockholders?
>It's a bad deal if the new venture does not sell product, and vice >versa. Such is life with any tech stock you buy. And GVIL stock was >going nowhere anyway. If you bought GVIL because you like its >Mac modems, then you should buy some Boca (BOCI) stock. If you >think the unannounced SOHO market product is going to be a good >thing, hang onto your GVIL stock and it will be converted to >whatever symbol the "new" company trades at.
>What does Nick think?
>I think it's great that I'm going to a more stable company and I wish >the "startup" good luck so my GVIL stock might make me some >money in a year or two.
Read between the lines. The fabled server product is the New York and it will be a while off, perhaps two years, before the "new" global makes money. So you are talking dead cash. There are no secret Phase II saviors like apple or microsoft in the wings. This is DEAD, DEAD money and way over priced at $1. |
