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Technology Stocks : Fonix:Voice Recognition Product (FONX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Hunter Trout who wrote (2193)3/19/1999 11:47:00 AM
From: DSPetry  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 3347
 
but the news you provided a link to was merely a post in that snake pit that calls itself a fonix discussion group. I do not bother to access that site for the same reasons that I tend to shy away from animals that foam at the mouth.

Obviously this snake pit knew something...
quote.bloomberg.com

NASDAQ HALTS TRADING OF FONIX CORPORATION

and Requests Additional Information from the Company

WASHINGTON, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Nasdaq Stock Market(R) announced that trading was halted in Fonix Corporation(Nasdaq: FONX) today at 10:44 a.m. for "additional information requested" from the company at a last trade price of $1.00. Trading will remain halted until Fonix Corporation has fully satisfied Nasdaq's request for additional information.
For news and additional information about the company, please contact the company directly, or check under the company's symbol using InfoQuotes(SM) on the Nasdaq-Amex Web site.
For more information about The Nasdaq-Amex Market Group, visit
the Nasdaq- Amex Web site at nasdaq-amex.com or the Nasdaq-Amex Newsroom(SM) at nasdaq-amexnews.com. SOURCE Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.



To: Hunter Trout who wrote (2193)3/19/1999 2:16:00 PM
From: Dr. Bob  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 3347
 
The link may have been by way of the Yahoo board, but the news was clearly identified as being from Bloomberg. Further, the facts therein are ones we have discussed on this board as much as a year ago. Today's events provide further credibility for that link, and the comments made here in the past.

Bob



To: Hunter Trout who wrote (2193)3/19/1999 4:08:00 PM
From: Felipe Garcia  Respond to of 3347
 
Fonix Warns Debt From Purchases Threatens Survival (Update1)

Fonix Warns Debt From Purchases Threatens Survival (Update1) (Adds closing stock price, warning about short selling.)

Salt Lake City, March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Fonix Corp., an unprofitable developer of speech-recognition technology, warned its survival is threatened by more than $6 million of debt issued to help pay for two recent acquisitions.

The Salt Lake City-based company has been sued in Boston federal court for defaulting on notes issued to buy the two software developers, Articulate Systems and Papyrus. To buy them, and a third company last year, it used cash and debt equal to about 30 percent of its current stock market worth.

Fonix, which lost more than $93 million since it was founded in 1993, had revenue in the first nine months of 1998 of $2.7 million. It said it's so short of cash that it had to raise money by selling
securities at ''considerable expense.'' ''Recently incurred debt obligations could impair Fonix's ability to continue as a going concern,'' the company warned in a registration statement filed today
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Company executives weren't immediately available for comment.

Fonix made a series of acquisitions last year after being unable to sell the speech recognition products it spent four years developing. For the purchases, it used a total of $15.8 million in cash,
$6.4 million of debt and 10.9 million shares.

In March, it bought AcuVoice, a developer of text-to-speech software, for 2.7 million shares and $8 million in cash. In September, it bought Articulate, which sells speech recognition software, for 5.1 million shares, $7.8 million in cash and $4.7 million in notes. In October, it bought Papyrus, which develops handwriting recognition software, for 3.1 million shares and $1.7 million of notes.

New Stock

The company said it separately sold $19.5 million of convertible preferred stock and debentures over the past year that, as of Feb. 25, would require the issuance of 31.9 million new shares. That amounts to 32 percent of the company sold for 61 cents a share, about half Fonix's current share price. ''Fonix has been forced to raise capital to fund operations by private sales of its securities,
the terms of which transactions have been highly dilutive and involve considerable expense,'' it said.

The company warned it could be forced to issue even more shares under terms of the convertible securities if its share price declines. The shares have fallen 81 percent in the last year, including a
1/4 decline today to 1 1/8. ''There effectively is no limitation on the number of shares of Fonix common stock into which such convertible securities may be converted or exercised,'' Fonix warned.

It added the ''mere existence'' of this potential for an increase in shares may depress the price of Fonix stock. And it said the issuance of these shares could encourage short selling, which could
place more downward pressure on its stock. Short selling is selling borrowed shares in the expectation of buying the shares later at a lower price.

Fonix said it must call a special meeting of shareholders to raise its authorization to issue new shares. The limit was already raised to 150 million from 100 million at a special meeting in November to deal with anticipated dilution from convertible securities.

Fonix also said it agreed to pay $600,000 to co-founder Stephen Studdert, who resigned as chief executive on Jan. 26.

The company's current liabilities exceeded current assets by $9.1 million on Sept. 30. Three months earlier, its balance sheet reflected $2.3 million of working capital.