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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (138594)	2/4/2002 10:06:44 PM
From: GST	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Viictor -- what do you think of the 'special charges' for dead inventory that shows up again later as profitable sales? Not a bad trick huh, say it is worth nothing and then count 100% of the sale as a profit.

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (138594)	2/5/2002 5:54:40 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

A tragedy has befallen a friend of ReformAMT : Fred Abramson is dead. Taxes killed him. That's not the whole story of course. Fred was a co-worker of multiple ReformAMT members. Fred, a resident of San Mateo, California was 57 years old. He was an extremely intelligent individual. He had a PhD in mathematics. He was fortunate enough to join Rambus just about the time it went public. About a year and a half ago, he decided to exit the technology arena and concentrate on flying full time. He was a pilot instructor for many years and loved performing at air shows. This was his love and what he truly wanted to do in life. Of course, his stock in Rambus helped him "retire" from his technical career. But on leaving the company, he was forced to exercise all his vested stock options or lose them. Of course he exercised them. It turns out he exercised near the peak historical value of Rambus's stock, and then things started going very bad for the company, and Fred. The hi-tech industry started to slump, Rambus encountered some very adverse legal rulings on patents, and some of the company's critical business partnerships starting wavering. From its high, the stock tumbled 50% in just two weeks. In the end, the stock tumbled from a high of $120 to a low of $5 and has now settled in the $7-8 range. It has never recovered substantially, and may not for quite some time. When Fred exercised his stock, he incurred a huge tax liability in the form of AMT. Being a believer in the company, he held on to the stock hoping for a recovery that would help him cover taxes. In the end, he had to sell everything at very low prices and he still owed huge taxes. Once he sold his stock, there was no hope of ever recovering, even if the economy and company recovered. He was bankrupt and had to go back to work in the hi-tech industry. He couldn't stand the fact his "retirement" was destroyed by AMT on money he really never made. And he couldn't bear the thought that he would be paying off his tax debt most likely for the rest of his life. Last week Fred decided to make his final payment - he paid with his life spending his last moments with his plane.