Larry, perhaps you should read that e-mail twice, taking note of this line:
What we have here is a whole lot of folks worked up over my poor choice of one word - "serious" in a reply to one investor. It is for these reasons - and only these reasons, that neither Charlie nor I will be replying via email to investors who intend to post our replies in the chat rooms. #reply-6493379.
The problem with these boards is "our" agenda is not necessarily the company's agenda. Often times the agenda of these boards is the simply the agenda of the person who posts most often and/or most vociferously. Sure we're all entitled to our opinion and sure we're all part owners, but we have to understand that employees, institutional investors, investment banks, members of the board, etc. are also putting pressure on the company to do things they'd like to see get done as well.
"We" want to make money -- now. No matter when we buy, we want the stock to go up. And we assume that if the stock doesn't go up it's always the company's management's fault, kind of like blaming the coach or manager of your favorite sports team. But share price is more than that; it's dependent on audience reaction. Asking a Y2K company to double from here is like asking a hockey team to win so it can double its TV ratings. Problem is, there are just so many hockey fans, like there are just so many Y2K fans right now.
Sorry, but I have no problems with a management team that grew a company from nothing to the #1 fastest growing company in the southwest, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yes, it's a bit morbid to hope there are Y2K related failures in order to see another run in the Y2K sector, but, heck, any company that has a Y2K failure at this point, given all the Y2K media attention and all the Y2K vendors out there, deserves it. And we deserve to profit from saying "told you so".
And if Y2K work for outside vendors continues to fizzle, then ALYD shareholders just have to hope that just as ALYD was able to surf the Y2K wave into the 30s it can do the same with electronic commerce when the time comes. As evident with the hiring of Ogilvey, ALYD isn't sitting around waiting.
- Jeff |
