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Technology Stocks : Wattage Monitor (WMON) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wasteman who wrote (86)	5/2/1999 1:56:00 PM
From: ronayre	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 96

Hi folks, I've been watching WMON for a few weeks after receiving a promo in the mail. After doing a bit of DD, this article makes me feel these guys might not be the angels they appear to be. A bit sketchy for me, some of you might like to read this so... This is from The Industry Standard Magazine May 3 rd 1999 on the financing strategies of iParty, a party-goods company set up by New York investor Robert Lessin, Sam Belzberg (a Canadian financier best known as a 1980s corporate greenmailer) and Byron Hero (a one-time corporate raider). The strange thing about iParty was how it went public: Before launching, it merged with a "public shell," an already public company with no operations that was controlled by Belzberg. Turns out, Lessin and Belzberg used the same method to create public stock for a California company called Wattage Monitor, which provides electric-power information over the Web. Almost immediately, Lessin and CEO Gerald Alderson filed with the SEC to register their shares in the new company, which lets them sell their shares at will. Alderson's explanation? It was done so that one person – Belzberg – couldn't control all the stock in public hands and dribble it out onto the market at an artificially inflated price. It's worth remembering that Belzberg was once involved in a serious securities scandal related to his failed bid to acquire Ashland Oil; he later lost much of his fortune when his holding company, First City Financial, went bust in the wake of the savings and loan industry collapse. Wattage Monitor, which provides not power, but information about the deregulating electric business, now has a market capitalization of about $100 million. It's either a telltale sign of the potential investors see in the multibillion-dollar electric business – or just one more sign of the continued enthusiasm on the Street for all things Internet. Not intending to be a nayslayer, just thought this would be of interest to some. Good Luck RR ***OT*** Wasteman, good move on TNRG...I also trade the dips. Following it for a year or so. Later..