Frank, Art, and all,
One thing that I think we could all agree on would be the desirability of better communication from management to the shareholders. I believe they have been somewhat remiss in that regard.All companies are thankful for the support that their shareholders give them. More press releases concerning company business would be an obvious way of thanking shareholders.Press releases have to be consistent with good business practices and have to be mindful of SEC regulations, but I'm sure more could be done to disseminate information to the ACTV shareholders.
One inevitable consequence of an information vacuum is the appearance of wild speculation to fill the void. For example, we know that Microsoft paid $400m for WebTV. If we accept the premise that ACTV's internet patents are worth possibly " billions ", then Bill Gates could offer us $1 billion and get a much better deal for himself. He could get the patents cheap and he would get the individualized television and the internet learning division for free. Besides, what's a lousy $1 billion to Bill? The irony would be great. Bill G. tried an end run past John Malone earlier when he tried to gain control of TCI by buying stock from the estate of TCI founder, Magnus, I believe his name was. Boy, would John be mad then.
You see what I mean about wild speculation? You could come up with all sorts of possibilities involving, but not limited to, Time Warner, Disney, etc. We know they're all greedy bastards, just like us, only they got more money.
One more irony. If Bill G. bought ACTV he would be taking on all that Java stuff ( did I mention Sun Microsystems as a buyer? ). It would be like vegetables to a kid. He would hate it, but it would be good for him.
regards,
Jim |
