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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: timers who wrote (16623)	3/3/1999 2:48:00 PM
From: Nazbuster	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 122089

BFLY - Interesting article on Fool: fnews.yahoo.com Also, founder Kenneth Seiff, 33 years old, has been Chair/CEO of the company since its inception. That means he oversaw the selection of GKN Securities as underwriter for the firm's May 1997 initial public offering. That New York investment bank is part of what used to be known as GKN Holdings but, last year, changed its name to Research Partners International (Nasdaq:RPII - news) . The name change may have had something to do with the fact that back in January 1997, GKN was fined $725,0000 as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NASD Regulation (NASDR). GKN and 29 of its supervisors and brokers were also forced to repay a total of $1.4 million to some 1,300 investors "who were overcharged as the result of a two year-long program of excessive markups in eight securities" underwritten by GKN, according to an NASDR press release in August 1997. The NASD charged that GKN had "dominated and controlled the immediate after-market trading" in these securities from December 1993 through April 1996. Small companies are often hard-pressed to find an underwriter, but Seiff must have known about GKN's history. Of course, what's past is not necessarily prologue. Yet, Bluefly will almost certainly be looking to raise more money in the next year or so. By recently calling for the redemption of outstanding warrants, the company did manage to raise some $10.2 million, trading warrants for common stock at $5 a share. However, that money probably won't last long given the need for heavy advertising and marketing to build a brand name. Still, even with the 4.85 million fully diluted shares now outstanding, according to CFO Barry, Bluefly's market cap is just $62.1 million. That's a lot for an outfit with virtually no sales and a spotty track record. But for an e-tailer building some brand recognition, it's low enough to make the Bluefly story worth following.