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Biotech / Medical : VVUS: VIVUS INC. (NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MythMan who wrote (18725)	2/12/1999 5:02:00 PM
From: Amots	Respond to of 23519

MM. Be patient (enjoy the put for now). You have to give the new CEO a nice base for his options (the law require market price), before some good news. On the other hand, you are right, don't put money that you can't afford to wait-on/lose. Regards Amots

To: MythMan who wrote (18725)	2/12/1999 5:10:00 PM
From: Mkilloran	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

MythMan...Richard Walliser CFO is the main reason that Vivus took the charge offs in the 3rd qtr and has returned to profitability in the 4th qtr. He has hired on as a full time Vivus employee in Jan because he sees that Vivus has a future . His trackrecord of working on turnaround situations is a big plus for Vivus. Lets see where we are at the July conf call...and review worldwide sales and improved productivity at the NJ factory.

To: MythMan who wrote (18725)	2/12/1999 5:20:00 PM
From: VLAD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23519

<<The new CFO hasn't shown much so far.>> MM, Where have you been? The new CFO was handed the keys to his new office and inherited a company that was burning cash like there was no tomorrow. He took over in September 1997 and took the hatchet to the spending in Q3 1998. In less than a quarter he was able to turn Vivus into a profitable company! The new CFO and MUSE is all Vivus has going for it right now. If the Vivus board wants to let RW look like a real star they should allow him at least 4M (but preferably 8M) to be used as a share buy back fund and allow him to supervise such a plan in a fiscally sound manner (ie only buy back the stock Vivus can really afford to buy and only buy it while it is this cheap or in a major pull back once momentum returns). I think he would do well. Another idea that I think Vivus should do is to try to get Astra/Zeneca to commit to taking an equity stake in Vivus by buying shares on the open market with an agreement not to sell them for a given time period once bought. This can be included as part of a domestic partnering agreement. IMO it would be a win-win situation for both Vivus and A/Z as A/Z probably is interested in an eventual buy out of Vivus and this would give A/Z a further financial commitment to Vivus which in the longer term would prove profitable to both A/Z and Vivus share holders.