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.

Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin Podsiadlik who wrote (10296)	8/18/2002 5:51:37 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Disney shareholders sue over 'Pooh' dispute By Ben Berkowitz LOS ANGELES, Aug 16 (Reuters) - A group of Walt Disney Co. <DIS.N> shareholders has sued the company alleging it failed to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in potential royalty payments in a dispute over "Winnie the Pooh," their attorneys said on Friday. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, is seeking class-action status for shareholders who bought Disney stock between Aug. 15, 1997 and May 15 of this year. "The lawsuit has no merit and we'll defend ourselves vigorously and are confident of the final outcome," Disney spokesman John Spelich told Reuters. The suit claims Disney concealed from shareholders the potential for a huge royalty payout to family-owned Stephen Slesinger Inc., which licensed "Pooh" merchandise rights to Disney in 1961, then sued Disney in 1991, claiming royalties had been under-reported or not paid at all. According to Friday's new suit, Disney should have reported the potential impact to shareholders sooner, but did not. The suit alleges Disney's failure to disclose was a deliberate misrepresentation to inflate Disney's stock price. The wrangling between Disney and Slesinger has been widely reported for years but it was back in May, when the litigation most recently heated up, that Disney said in an SEC filing it might face the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Slesinger's lawyers have valued those royalty payments as high as $200 million, an amount that Disney has disputed. In June, the judge in the Pooh case ruled a court-ordered audit was fundamentally flawed and unfair to Stephen Slesinger Inc. The judge ordered a new audit by a new accountant. It could take up to a year to find an accountant acceptable to both sides. VIDEO SALES That order followed a well-publicized release of court documents in January which showed the judge fined Disney for destroying documents related to the case. Businessman Stephen Slesinger received some North American marketing rights for the Pooh character in 1930 from its creator, A.A. Milne. His company licensed those rights to Disney in 1961, under a deal that gave him a percentage of worldwide sales of Pooh merchandise. Those rights were renegotiated in 1983, just around the time home video sales began contributing to corporate profits for media and entertainment companies. However, in 1991 Stephen Slesinger Inc. sued Disney, claiming it was owed $35 million or more in royalties for under-reported merchandise sales, as well as sales of video games and video cassettes. Disney has denied under-reporting merchandise sales and has argued that things like video games are not covered by its agreements with Slesinger. Since Disney mentioned the possible liability in the May 15 SEC filing, its stock has fallen about 36 percent, a fact the suit cites as the impact of the disclosure on Disney shares. Disney, however, has been clobbered by several issues including low attendance at its theme parks and weak advertising sales at its ABC television network. Indeed, all media stocks have been hammered in recent months by their own issues and the wider downturn in financial markets. In the same period, Viacom Inc. <VIA.N>, the least-impacted major media stock is down 16 percent. Vivendi Universal's <EAUG.PA> American Depositary Shares have lost 67 percent. AOL Time Warner Inc. <AOL.N> is off 32 percent and News Corp. Ltd.'s <NCP.AX> has seen its ADS's fall 25 percent. Disney Chief Michael Eisner and Chief Financial Officer Thomas Staggs are named as defendants in the suit, which seeks compensatory damages but does not specify an amount. 08/16/02 17:29

To: Kevin Podsiadlik who wrote (10296)	8/19/2002 2:59:24 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

.Sky Capital Holdings Ltd Names Ray Dirks as Managing Director Of Institutional Sales and Adam Harrington Managing Director Of Retail Sales at Sky Capital LLC NEW YORK, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Sky Capital Holdings Ltd today announced the appointment of Ray Dirks as Managing Director of Institutional Sales and Adam Harrington as Managing Director of Retail Sales of Sky Capital LLC, the firm's U.S.-based brokerage entity. Mr. Dirks, a legendary Wall Street securities analyst, will be responsible for building Sky Capital's institutional sales efforts in the United States. Formerly of Dirks & Co., a well-known research and brokerage firm, Mr. Dirks grew to prominence when he uncovered the Equity Funding fraud in 1973, which led to a landmark legal victory before the U.S. Supreme Court. "Ray Dirks provides an enormous amount of experience and acumen in the financial services arena. As Sky Capital builds its operations he will be an integral part of our growth," said Michael Recca, president of Sky Capital LLC. Mr. Dirks is bringing with him a core group of skilled professionals to accelerate the firm's institutional reach and will be adding capable, experienced and senior level executives to his staff. Adam Harrington has been named to the position of Managing Director- Retail Sales. He will be responsible for spearheading the growth of Sky Capital's retail sales operation in New York. Following approval by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Great Britain, Mr. Harrington will also take on responsibility for the Company's brokerage initiative in the United Kingdom, where Sky Capital Holdings Ltd recently floated a successful initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange (SKY.L). He will also be developing sales strategies for the firm in other European markets. Mr. Harrington has also brought with him additional experienced investment sales professionals to facilitate the launch of the company's retail sales activities in the United States. Mr. Harrington has considerable experience in the securities industry having held senior positions with a variety of companies. From January 2000 to August 2002 he was Senior Vice-President of the Thornwater Company, an investment bank. During 1999 Adam was President and CEO of Internet retailers, Catalogue.com, Inc. and DVDflix.com, Inc. From 1995-1999 he was a registered representative and an equity owner of New York-based broker/dealer, Roan Capital Partners. He also has experience in working in the Emerging Markets Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and has a degree in International Business from Hofstra University of New York. Ross Mandell, CEO Sky Capital Holdings Ltd, commented: "I am delighted to announce the appointment of Adam Harrington to Sky Capital's senior management team. He is an immensely capable executive with experience at the highest management levels. I am confident that he is the right person to execute our strategy of expanding Sky's sales operations within both the U.S. and European markets. Following our recent successful listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange I believe that a new chapter is opening in the corporate history of Sky Capital. People of Adam's caliber and experience are ideally suited to help us expand on our existing successes." About Sky Capital Holdings Sky Capital Holdings Ltd. is a recently incorporated company established to provide financial and investment advisory services to corporate clients and private individuals both in the United States and the United Kingdom, and eventually the rest of Europe. The Company has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Sky Capital LLC in the United States, and Sky Capital Ltd. in the UK. Based in two of the most important financial centres in the world -- New York and London -- Sky Capital Holdings addresses the need for financial advice and working capital customized for small and medium sized companies with market capitalisations of $10 million to $100 million. MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here tbutton.prnewswire.com SOURCE Sky Capital Holdings Ltd CO: Sky Capital Holdings Ltd ST: New York SU: PER prnewswire.com 08/19/2002 12:00 EDT

To: Kevin Podsiadlik who wrote (10296)	9/9/2002 8:38:46 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Wade Cook Sells Headquarters as Checks Bounce (Update1) By David Evans Seattle, Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Wade Cook Financial Corp. said it will sell its corporate headquarters. The financial seminar company's losses widened 21-fold and it issued $400,000 in bad checks. Current liabilities exceeded current assets by $3.2 million as of June 30 and the company was overdrawn on its bank account, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Wade Cook Financial will sell its 63,000-square-foot headquarters in Seattle for $5.7 million, the company said. ``This bank overdraft is primarily attributable to the effect of spending that resulted in issued checks being returned for non- sufficient funds,'' the company said in the filing. The company doesn't have a bank line of credit. The company, founded by Chief Executive Wade Cook in 1989, runs seminars and publishes his books that teach investors how to make money trading stocks. It charges $6,295 for a 16-hour ``Wall Street Workshop'' course. Wade Cook Financial's own stock portfolio lost 89 percent of its value in 2000 and 60 percent last year, according to the company's Web site. CEO Cook is conducting a seminar in Las Vegas today said Doyle Losse, a customer service representative, and was not available for comment. The company, citing decreased seminar attendance, said its second-quarter loss widened to $2.8 million from $130,000 in the year-earlier period. Sales fell 53 percent to $4.9 million from $10.4 million. The company lost $152,000 trading securities in the quarter, as its stock portfolio value fell to $100,000. A federal tax refund of $2.3 million, received after the quarter ended, will be used to pay overdue bills, the company said. Wade Cook Financial also said it expects to receive $650,000 from selling its building after paying off its mortgages. The sale agreement will become binding 90 days from June 17, 2002 subject to due diligence. Wade Cook Financial said in the filing it ``believes the actions presently being taken to revise the company's operations and financial requirements provide the opportunity for the company to continue as a going concern.'' In February, the Federal Trade Commission sought to have the company held in contempt of court for not obeying the terms of an October 2000 settlement with the agency. That agreement required the company to refund millions of dollars to customers who were falsely told Wade Cook would teach them to earn 20 percent or more per month on their money The agency's contempt motion, which seeks to require the company to deposit $5 million into a consumer redress fund, is still pending. The agency has also alleged the company continued making misrepresentations to customers. Three of four members of Wade Cook's audit committee quit in June, after Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Britten departed in March. Janice Leysath, former audit committee chairman, accused the company of improperly spending money on friends and family members of CEO Cook. In an earlier SEC filing, the company denied any wrongdoing. This week, the company completed a reverse 10 for one split of its shares. The stock fell 10 cents to 30 cents at 2:37 p.m. New York time in OTC Bulletin Board trading.