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 : THREE FIVE SYSTEM (TFS) - up from here? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Noblesse Oblige who wrote (1221)	4/5/1998 10:01:00 PM
From: Franklin M. Humphreys	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3247

HI N.O. I apologize profusely for making even the slightest intimation that you have been a factor in the forced liquidation of some of my TFS holdings. However, if I were inclined to blame you for anything, (the which, I certainly am not) it would be for having been one of those who helped quell the fears I experienced as a consequence of the elder Buchanan's inappropriate treatment of the operator during the last conference call. At that time I posted opinions to the effect that his action was one of publicly chastising her in an insinuating tone of voice for an error of little consequence that in all likelihood arose from his own hastily devised, inarticulately conveyed plan for conducting the Q & A session. (anybody auditing the call easily understands the linking of the word inarticulate to the name Buchanan.) I felt then, as now, that any executive who is so quick to flare at subordinates, especially in a public forum, is guilty of management by fear and intimidation. Anybody unaware of the shifting paradigms in management technique in the latter half of this Century hasn't seen a Saturn commercial nor borne witness to the influx of Japanese owned domestic Automobile plants. More to the point; ask your self if Jack Welch puts up with that crap at GE? If any blame accrues it is to myself for deferring to the advice of those such as yourself whose experiences in Wall Street esoterica are infinitely better grounded than my own. Somebody suggested that I was too harsh and said in effect that it was just a "bad hair day" for Mr. Buchanan. Well, my fault lies in accepting such platitudes against my own better judgement. In today's world CEOs cannot afford these "bad hair days" if they are to survive. As a case in point, the unannounced, almost unverified, departure of a key executive repeatedly has been noted as a matter for concern among shareholders. I cannot say he left because he was ridden roughshod, and I will not resort to the counterfeit logic that since none has stepped forward to deny it that it is therefore true. The lack of confirmation from within the company is not an indictment of Buchanan's outdated riding style. On the other hand, the lack of defense from any employees reading these postings is noticeably absent. I would certainly commend the individual who, at possible risk of dire personal consequences, found fortitude enough to post here anything at all relating to Mr B's choice in riding regalia---roundels or spikes. Fearing that I belabor a point which holds little or no interest for a majority of shareholders I will give it a rest now. I am reverting back to the down-on-the-farm kind of horse-sense* which I am so fond of quoting and, in Ariella's words, "voting with my feet". Market timing be damned! The fantastic run-up in TFS price in the five year ago period was due simply to the fact that TFS management fell in the outhouse and came out smelling like a rose! Now that MOT has moved the outhouse, put a chain-link fence around it, and made it a "by special invitation only" affair, replete with a nepotism of their own particular manufacture, the lack of business and management acumen in the executive suite at TFS is making itself painfully evident ---albeit slowly--- to its less staunch supporters. Finally N.O., and by way of further affirmation of my apologies to you, let me point out that my variant on the "fools and their money" theme was intended to entertain, not inflame. Any derogatory tone you detected was, in fact directed inward. Having held this issue from $48 to (now) $19 I was moved to wonder that I ever had any money in the first place, much less that I should henceforth retain any, if dumping it at the "bottom" were my present choice. It is not easy to "dump" it here! But then, that has always been the problem with me as regards TFS! In retrospect, I must realize that every loser I have is because it was not easy to "dump". Frank PS. I iterate my apology by impishly diverting blame thusly: It is indeed my fault; I thought you knew what you were talking about with all that FA!<g> Notes: Horse-sense* That good quality in a horse that prevents it from betting on a man.