Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/28/2001 10:54:44 AM
From: Peach	Respond to of 28311

Roger, that is one of the most valuable posts I have seen on SI. You answered questions I have wondered about for years. Thank you, Norma

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/28/2001 11:31:19 AM
From: MJ	Respond to of 28311

Roger Thanks for the very lucid information. This parrallels very much what I have experienced. One point I would make is that there is always the possibility of stock given. This happened or will happen in the Sotheby's case--judge ruled but stock not yet distributed. Eventually we will get some number of shares for each 100 held. This I think depends on the Judge. If INFO is not going to survive then stock would not be of any help. However, if it is going to survive then stock would be good. One other point----in the Sotheby's case i could have sold my shares anytime after the class action suits and still have been included in the class action. So if one is a part of the class action with INFO then selling would not affect inclusion. A final point is that these class actions take time! So this will likely drag on for months. (That is why a corporation has a staff of lawyers which I presume INFO does to address class actions so that management can attend to business) Also in here is there any possibility that INFO could declare bankruptcy and avoid the class actions and then throw it all into bankruptcy court? Or, can INFO survive the suits and continue in business? mj

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/28/2001 12:38:19 PM
From: Sarkie	Respond to of 28311

Roger, I, for one, greatly appreciate the extra effort you have given to keep us informed. Your questions are just what many have been asking and the answers are just what we needed. Thank you so much.

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/28/2001 1:25:32 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 28311

Are your lights back on yet? Another wonderful and informative post, and am sending my thanks along with the others.....Really do appreciate your time and the info you gather for all of us, Roger! By the time the attornies ALL 160,000 of them read all the posts on this thread, and have a good understanding of what happened....who knows....maybe there will be new management and a new board.... But no matter what, they can't have my Trillionaire button! You didn't know just how right you were when you said they were "rare" did you????

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/29/2001 5:42:15 AM
From: Puck	Respond to of 28311

Roger, I have never received anything other than shares from the class-action lawsuits I have been party to as a member of the "class". It has been my observation of dozens of class action lawsuits over the past decade that in at least 95% of them compensation is made by the company issuing new shares to members of the "class", which is tantamount to a stock split in which nobody wins except the law firms involved, who get their shares before anyone else and then promptly sell them. I respectfully suggest that the term "monetary" may have a broader definition than just being equivalent to cash to include newly issued shares as well. If you ever talk to the law firms in this case again, I suggest you ask them what percentage of class action cases of the garden variety type they have filed against INSP have been settled for restitution paid by the issuance of newly minted shares versus purely by cash. The only cases I remember having cash settlements were situations involving accounting scandals and where the plaintiffs had the option of taking control of the company and auctioning its assets off. Another poster mentioned being a plaintiff in the Sotheby's case, which I guess might be one of the rare cash settlements. Either way, I still must agree with the article you posted by the Cato Institute and must strongly protest the view of the law firms you contacted about who wins in these cases. As the article you cited says, for the afflicted shareholders, settlements to class action lawsuits result in money being taken from the right pocket and returned to the left pocket with the plaintiff's lawyers attempting to exact a small toll for facilitating the transfer. As a former GNET shareholder who will qualify as a member of the "class", I must protest these class action lawsuits as being detrimental to my interest.

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	6/29/2001 8:10:42 PM
From: Carolyn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28311

Thank you, Roger. We will miss your valuable posts.

To: Roger Sherman who wrote (26153)	7/1/2001 4:44:15 PM
From: Charles W. Breaux, Jr.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28311

Roger: I've just been catching up with the last 100 or so posts on the thread, & I want to add my thanks for the effort you've put into elucidating this whole lawsuit issue. My only previous experience with such a suit was as a shareholder of Corel. A class action suit was filed based on insider selling by the CEO, Michael Cowpland, two months before a big surprise quarter loss which presaged a couple of recent bad years for the company. The suit was eventually settled. I naively filled out the paperwork that was sent to me as a member of the class. I didn't expect anything to come of it, but I recently received a check for several hundred $ (about 3% of my total investment). I, too, have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I remain an INSP shareholder (by way of GNET), so anything that hurts the company & hurts the stock price hurts me. On the other hand, if money is going to be handed out in a settlement, the lawyers shouldn't get it all (although they will get more than anybody else). Thanks again for your assistance. I always enjoy reading your informative posts. Chuck, #85 (although I've probably moved up on the list)