Hey, Autosuck. What a surprise. Patrick has jsut now made a post on a board. Now try to understand. There are many CEO's who still think they can earn themselves out of this - they can't. Once these guys get in your company, they don't leave. Ever. I've also seen Elgindy's list that the DOJ had, and it was some of the most well known stocks listed. So don't give me the 'all shit companies' argument. This stuff is illegal. But your question, which I answered, but obviously not to your satisfaction, is, no one knows. Now here's a guy who has spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money on the problem, a CEO with access to any records available to the company, who really doesn't have any idea who owns his stock. Why? Because it's a paper charade that the authorities cover. Now, see if you can understand what it must feel like to create a company, and then have it attacked illegally, because someone needs a sports car. And BTW, I think he's playing with the crowd a llittle bit, because the x clearing fails are probably five times the float in a stock like OSTK. Therefore, what is the point of filings, corporate voting, meetings, all the rest. Can you possible understand the seriousness of all of this? Do you ever go to Yahoo and look for 'Key Figures'? What good are they if Barry Minkow and the boys have it on their hit list? Did you see HLF today? Got rid of Minkow, up $1.63. So, what's up with that? Now, you tell me. Here is the post: Recs: 4 Re: OSTK Share Ownership Oh, did someone catch the bashers in another lie? Why is today different from any other day? I will share what I know in an attempt to clear things up a bit. I should first state I pay essentially 0 attention to which institutions move in or out of our stock (in fact, I am tempted to say "absolutely 0 attention"). Also, what I say below has appeared in recent interviews, so there should be no Reg FD issue: I put it out there on the off-chance some of my questions can be answered by you folks. In recent weeks I have referred several times to ownership numbers, so I'll clear up the mystery and tell you that with one exception, the numbers I referenced in those interviews are in a place you can check them for yourself: the CNBC website. Go there ( http://www.cnbc.com/id/15837275?q=ostk?q ) and click "Ownership". If you search about 2/3 of the way down you will see that it says the Top 50 institutions own 106% of our stock. If true, that would be 106% X 21.7 = 23 million shares. More curious to me, however, is the fact that nearer the top it says that there are 337 large block owners, and that they own 28.2 million shares. That is, 28.2/21.7 = 130% of the shares. Now I don't know whether to believe CNBC about this. I suppose they are going from SEC filings. Who knows? Make up your own mind. As I indicated above, there is one piece of data I dropped in those interviews that is not in a place that you can check for yourself, and that is, how many total shareholders we have. The system is so opaque, I cannot say for sure myself, but I can say what we are told by our transfer agent, and that is, there are 6,000 shareholders. Periodically, however, the reported number of shareholders drops to 2,000 for one day only (that day being any record date), then immediately springs back to 6,000 the next day. This happens over and over again. Make of that what you will. So.... Do we have 6,000 shareholders? Let's say we do. That means: The top 50/6,000 = .83% own 106% of the stock. The 337/6,000 = 5.6% own 130% of the company. Which raises the interesting question, "If 5.6% large block owners own 130% of the firm, how much of the firm is owned by 100% of the people who think they own part of the firm?" Clearly the other 94.4% are smaller players, retail owners, and so on, so it will not be 20X the 130%. Is it 2X 130%? Or 1.1 X 130%? I don't pretend to know. And I don't pretend to know if we can trust CNBC's numbers. And I do not know what to make of the fact that our transfer agent shows 6,000 owners except on rare days when he shows 2,000. I hope I have cleared up some of the weird squabbling. You folks now know what I know. I'd love to hear if any of you can explain this data. Best, Patrick
I'd love to hear if any of you can explain this data. ============================ I'd rather have Bryne take a stab at an explanation of his own number problem. I'm sure he must have some thoughts. Meanwhile though, back at the ranch, the data orginating the problem could be wrong which brings us to an immediate conclusion, a fool can keep a thousand wise men busy. Byrne as a businessman is generating a lot of free advertising for his flea market via the nss issue. It is not a new concept to wear a white hat with a ulterior motive.
Thanks nutmeg, well put. Nice to see how some can communicate quite well using a couple of well stated paragraphs instead of having to pontificate and refer to numbers that even they admit are potentially erronious, even 'unknowable' . As for your bullshit flytiger.......... well, I hope you get your 'pound of flesh'. Good luck in your quest to right the world, rid it of all those villianous, sports car driving naked short sellers, and make it a much better place for us all. I know we will all be better off when those great titans of industry, or would be titans if not for the shorts, like Herbal Life (garbage in a bottle greatest and longest running scam of all time), and Overstock.com (online "flea market"), are all functioning feely in the capital markets. I am sure that those poor companies like CSCO, MSFT, XOM, and a few hundred of those other companies teetering on the brink of desctruction because of those nasty rumor mongering, sports car driving, naked short sellers, will be delighted with your achievment too. P.S. No, I have not read any of the wonderful posts Patrick has made on the Yahoo boards. I am apparently quite dense because I have not spent my time reading all of your posts, but unfortunately I have a couple of other uses for my time and the small amout of grey matter I have. I don't get much opportunity to consult prestegious academic sources like Yahoo message boards. Hell as you can see by my posting score on elite, I really don't have the time to engage in any of these 'high level' discussions that go on here. But on behalf of all the unwashed masses out there, thank you for your thousands of contributions here, and I am sure to Yahoo and anywhere else they woulod listen to you. It is not often then a person with your high IQ and extensive knowledge is so freely and absolutely giving to the sheeple without any ulterior motives. P.S.S. My grey matter and my reasoning and critical thinking skills are wasted on things like speculating on the origins of your alias flytiger. Here was one I came up with; the fly refers to the fact that you are attracted to and feed off anything that smells like shit. And the tiger refers to 'paper tiger', all talk no cock! Hence a shit eating insect that makes a lot of noise about nothing, hoping that people believe everything they say and don't call them on it. Am I close??? LOL enjoy your weekend!
Last thing he would ever do. They got the SEC to investigate him - nothing. You know he's gone to DOJ. They investigate you before they look into you. Obvioiusly, nothing. So how can you say something so unseemly about someone and something you don't understand? I've spent a lot of time on this planet, and he's one of the finest, no, the finest, person I've ever met. I'm really not shocked by anything anymore, but you you all find out what has happened behind the scenes, you will be. Until then, bark on.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SptB3STL5rs&color1=291787617&color2=325161297&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SptB3STL5rs&color1=291787617&color2=325161297&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Yup, you're the catcher. Does he at least send you flowers after your time together? Or just leaves a 20 on the dresser?
You're body of knowledge, the throughness of your research - you're just an astounding individual. Come up with some data, or disappear, like your Dad.