<<OT: An Article With A History...
Folks, I don't know if you've kept up with the NETZ
(Zulu-Tek is the new name of a company resulting from
the strange union of a software company and Softbank
Interactive Marketing) saga. But, a while back, around
the IPO time for DCLK (another online advertising network),
NETZ had to be among the most spammed stocks in history.
I'm not exaggerating. It's languished in the mid
fifty cents area ever since the run-up around DCLK.
(Run-up being relative: I mean it peaked, I think around
a buck and a half...)
Anyway, if you really want some laughs--and a reason
to be grateful--go reading on www.wired.com their really
revealing "probes" into Zulu-Tek and an an Australian
financier who isn't exactly, well, respected.
Now, this article adds yet another wrench to the
NETZ story. BTW, the NETZ thread makes for interesting
observing. Lions, Christians, Christian lions, belching,
a tough neighborhood, especially after dark. The latest,
and this has been the latest now for months, is that NETZ
is s'posed to be releasing audited financials.
This has been a really interesting drama...
Softbank Interactive Founders Sue
Former Parent Company
[April 22, 1998] Perhaps not unexpectedly, the founders of Softbank
Interactive Marketing have reportedly filed a $200 million lawsuit
against SIM's former parent company, Softbank Holdings and its
subsidiary, Ziff-Davis.
The suit follows the sale of the Internet advertising unit to the strangely
named ZULU-tek, formerly echoMEDIA. The new owners renamed
SIM as ZuluMedia.
Also named in the suit, according to Advertising Age, are Ziff
Chairman and CEO Eric Hippeau and Jeffrey Ballowe, president of
marketing and development of Ziff-Davis' Interactive Media divisions,
as well Masayoshi Son, president and majority shareholder of
Softbank Corp. in Japan, parent of Softbank Holdings.
The lawsuit, filed April 17 in the Supreme Court of New York, alleges
that the defendants abused their control of SIM by mismanaging the
company's business. The lawsuit also claims that "to make matters
worse, Softbank sold its stock to a company whose inappropriateness
as a purchaser was obvious for all to see." On Dec. 31, Softbank
Holdings sold a majority of SIM to ZULU-tek.
Since then the SIM founders have departed, along with a host of key
execs. The entire European staff of SIM quit and formed their own
agency after the ZULU-tek takeover. The new ZuluMedia site claims
quite a few credits for work done by SIM, without mentioning SIM by
name.
Plaintiffs in the suit include Andrew Batkin, former chairman and CEO
of SIM; Lawrence Howorth, former president and chief financial
officer; Edward West, former chief operating officer of SIM's media
sales group; and Robert Colvin, former president of SIM's media sales
group.
Laurie Butler, an attorney with Tourtelot & Butler who represents
Softbank Interactive, or ZuluMedia, and Zulu-Tek, said she had not
seen a copy of the suit. But she was quoted by Wired as saying that
her clients "don't feel that they've done anything wrong in buying
Softbank Interactive and are just interested in running a business." |
