I'm sorry guys. I just don't believe this bull-shit about restructuring and cutting the fat in order to pay off the debts they owed. If you reference the article, you will note that debt payment began to stop in the 4th quarter of 1997 (the quarter in which NETZ took over).
Things seemed to be going quite well before NETZ took over.
adage.com
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>>>Mr. West, a founding member of SIM's management team, said he left because "we didn't feel comfortable the business was being moved forward in a manner that promised the greatest success."<<<
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The European Connection:
>>>Gordon Simpson, former director of European operations: "We had concerns about the way the operations were being run, and about the financial stability of the ongoing business."
Mr. Simpson said the new owners failed to provide adequate financial support for the European operation, contributing to the loss of its biggest client, Altavista.telia, which is now suing Zulu-tek in London's High Court.
Dan Winblad, AltaVista Northern Europe's product manager, said the lawsuit was filed in late February after Zulu-tek failed to pay revenues earned for ads placed on the AltaVista site during the last quarter of 1997. A copy of the lawsuit was unavailable at press time.
"We were working very well with Gordon Simpson and Softbank Interactive Marketing Europe. The problems started when Zulu-tek bought SIM," Mr. Winblad said.<<<
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Employee concerns:
Comment - According to this statement someone is lying. It also appears that Party, from his statements concerning Hayton, agrees more with the ex-Simmer(s) than with Hayton on this one.
>>>Mr. Hayton has denied he has an ownership interest in Zulu-tek and said he has no involvement in the day-to-day operations of either Zulu-tek or SIM.<<<
>>>Mr. Simpson said Mr. Hayton "quite clearly called the shots. In meetings we had, it was quite clear Pat was in charge of Zulu-tek."<<<
>>>Mr. West said reports of Mr. Hayton's past financial troubles concerned SIM staff and clients.
"The pattern of Hayton that existed [with regard to past dealings] was of concern," Mr. West said.<<<
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Client concerns:
Netscape:
>>> "We do not know what Zulu-tek has planned, or what they have been doing," said Mark Evans, general manager of advertising for Netscape.
Netscape's Mr. Evans said what concerns him more than the executive turnover is the quality of support he will continue to get from SIM's sales reps.
"There's a lot of consternation (synonymous with dismay) about the situation there," he said.<<<
Mapquest:
>>>"I'm very concerned," said John Durham, national advertising sales manager for Mapquest, which is in contract negotiations to determine if SIM will continue to be its exclusive Internet sales rep.
When asked who was involved in the negotiations, Mr. Durham responded, "That's the question I want to know right now. I don't know who the new people are. They haven't contacted us."<<<
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Stuff we already knew:
>>> SIM and Zulu-tek did not return phone calls by press time.<<<
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