To: tRaDiAc who wrote (11 ) 11/26/1998 12:30:00 AM From: Jim B Respond to of 86
EMAIL from JACK BEN EZRA -------------- While I can't bring myself to say "I feel your pain" (far too emulative of our President), I do have empathy for your position. My position is fixed more by external circumstance than anything else. But I will try to elucidate as much as I can regarding our stance, and after this I really will have no additional comments on the matter. There are some steps we could take to encourage investors, but unfortunately that would involve premature and overly optimistic projections. The BB has a terrible problem with hype, and we want no part of that. There are announcements that might bump the stock price a bit, such as "we are negotiating with so and so for a 600 store placement" but that type of announcement would only spur speculation on both sides, and serves no true informative or material purpose. Coming out with a "factual" announcement creates problems as well. When our lawsuit with AOL was announced we found that people thought AOL was suing us! When we have been quoted by shareholders or reporters the quote is invariably wrong. Unless we are prepared to file k's and q's the release of information will only be used to support an individual's view of reality. Either we report or we don't. There is no middle ground.That is the equivalent of being a little pregnant. Finally, the AOL lawsuit is alive and kicking. We cannot comment on any aspect of the suit other than to say we believe we will prevail. We do, in many ways, care about the share price. But concern for share price must lay in long term stages and perspectives. If we sell PMA we will have a fine share price irresoective of shares outstanding, shorts or anything else. If we don't sell PMA, the share price won't matter much, either. I hope you have a good Thanksgiving, a healthy family and good holiday season. Jack Ben Ezra