CNBC received this today. So will a whole lot of other people.........
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Subj: NOVELL STOCKHOLDER REVOLT
Date: 02/18/97
To: squawk@cnbc.com
NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS...NEWS
An internet-based revolt against the board of directors of Novell is raging
on the worldwide web. Dissident Novell stockholders, fed up with the
company's under-performance and management's temporizing in finding a new
CEO, are working to oust the current board.
The grass-roots revolt began on the Novell "Stocktalk" message board on
Silicon Investor, a well-known web site where thousands of investors meet to
exchange information on their stocks. It is also spilling over into "The
Motley Fool" Novell message board.
Investor anger with the Novell director's poor performance turned to action
when CALPERS, a California state employee investment agency with very large
holdings of Novell shares, recently declared the company an under-performing
investment.
The tech-savvy investors have created ways to submit proxies to CALPERS via
e-mail, so that CALPERS power can grow in influencing changes at Novell. A
similar stockholder proxy-submission has begun with the State of Wisconsin
Investment Board, which owns 8 million shares of Novell. The dissident
stockholders feel that backing these massive holders will put muscle into
their assault on Novell's board of directors. The investors also seek to
block the frittering-away of the more than $1 billion dollars by Novell
management, which recently said it was eyeing acquisitions. (Novell's
previous acquisitions, such as WordPerfect, proved disastrous.)
Journalists have joined the fray. Jesse Berst, editor of the prestigious
online publication, "Anchordesk" at ZD Net, an affiliate of PC Week magazine,
has advocated the merger of Novell with Cisco Systems. He reported that this
suggestion was rebuffed by Joe Marengi, president of Novell, at a recent
meeting.
PC Week columnist Spencer Katt has also reported the move by dissident
investors. He writes in the current issue: "The sound you hear coming out of
Provo is the furious typing of some very disgruntled Novell stockholders, who
want president Joe Marengi and the board of directors' heads on a platter."
Investors with worldwide web access can see the revolt in progress at the
Silicon Investor Novell stocktalk site, and at the Motley Fool Novell message
board.
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Joe...<NOVELL - Like Paul says, "Let's talk".....and NOW>
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