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Technology Stocks : MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ISOMAN who wrote (569)	5/24/2000 11:32:00 AM
From: Still Rolling	Respond to of 717

Expansion of SEC probe. How overvalued are we still? Michael Saylor is still worth a billion bucks. Chew on that for a while. SEC expands MicroStrategy probe PricewaterhouseCoopers may be included By Steve Gelsi & Amanda Tyler CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 11:23 AM ET May 24, 2000 NewsWatch WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission widened its investigation of the software firm MicroStrategy to include its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes after shares of once high-flying MicroStrategy (MSTR: news, msgs) plunged from a mid-March intraday high of 333 after the company said it would have to restate its revenue figures for the past two years to comply with recent SEC guidelines. Shares of the Vienna, Va.-based e-business software maker fell 2 11/16 to 18 9/16 during morning trading. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal reported Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan is monitoring the SEC's civil probe to see if separate criminal action is warranted. Today on CBS MarketWatch Nasdaq falls; Dow inches up UAL buying US Airways Group for $4.3 bln WorldCom to sell AOL to phone users Airline sector lights afterburner Screamers: Costco warns More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 5/24/2000 10:44:36 AM ET Typically only blatant cases such as keeping two sets of books, or booking revenue from bogus sales, result in criminal charges. There have been no indications that MicroStrategy's revenue aren't linked to actual contracts. Rather, the investigation focuses on whether the company booked revenue prematurely from large, complex transactions. A PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesperson told the newspaper that the company hasn't been informed by the SEC that it's being investigated. The consulting firm routinely gets requests for documents and it always cooperates, the company said. MicroStrategy declined to comment. An SEC spokeswoman said the agency doesn't confirm or deny the existence of investigations. Last week, Michael J. Saylor, chairman and chief executive officer of MicroStrategy personally backed the company?s renegotiated $28.6 million line of credit. According to an SEC filing released last week, Saylor and an entity controlled by him have guaranteed the modified line of credit that expires on May 31, 2001. The credit line bears interest at LIBOR plus 1.75 percent and requires monthly payments. Microstrategy was forced to renegotiate the credit line after it failed to comply with all of the covenants contained in the agreement as of March 31, the filing said. The company has drawn $7.4 million under the new line of credit to date.