Well, I spoke with Todd Savitt of FVHI investor relations, and all there is to say is pretty much in the press release. Suffice to say that the company hopes SoftBank, a big Japanese company with extensive Internet-related holdings, will invest in it so that First Virtual will have the time and money it needs to make the transition to its new business focus and product. Without the funding ...
The company spin on the press release I found, uh, interesting. On the one hand it insists the company's financial straits are spelled out clearly in publicly available documents. Then, however, I'm told the company felt it necessary to "protect" stockholders from rumors that might lead to a price runup. How thoughtful. The stock trades $2 million, and the company runs to the rescue with a statement saying it's about to run out of cash in seven days. Yet if the stock were to pick up, I would have thought the capitalization might have helped the company's cause. Plus, of course, all week third-tier Internet company's have been in play. I find it very weird. Whether the explanation is disingenuous, naive, or something else, I leave it to you, dear threadsters, if any still exist, to fathom. Oh, I especially liked the justification that First Virtual thinks market speculation might damage the long-term prospects of the company. Yuh. Like management has done a real bang-up job on that front. And now we can all thank them for looking out for the company and its shareholders once again. Thank you, First Virtual.
Nothing more to add. I'll be curious, in an academic way, since I'm out of the stock, to learn what happens with SoftBank. If I do, I'll post it here. Adieu. |
