We Need a Big Scandal |
Written by Rob Goldman |
We Need a Big ScandalSome are more memorable than others, like the Kidder Peabody situation which involved an up and coming African American trader who lost over $200M. Lawsuits ensued and it was front page news of The Wall Street Journal for weeks. The first really big loss occurred when Nick Leeson, then at Barings Bank, only the oldest merchant bank in London (established in 1765) took the damn thing down in 1995, after losing $1.3 B in 1995 by betting on the wrong side in futures contracts. When you take down a venerable name, yours becomes a memorable, if not infamous one. Others are equally egregious, like the Amaranth Advisors $6B loss from betting on the wrong side of natural gas. Long-Term Capital Management, which had Nobel Laureates in the firm in an operating and advisory capacity folded after losing nearly $5 billion and crushing major investment firms’ balance sheets. In their case, bad bets on Russia did them in. The one I am speaking of came to light almost exactly 16 years ago. Bre-X was a Calgary-based stock that supposedly had 70M troy ounces of gold estimated to be in the ground on a property it owned in Borneo. The stock peaked at around $300 per share which valued the company at over $4 billion. Less than year later, Bre-X, which started out as a penny stock, became worthless when it was discovered it was a total fraud. Enough of this Europe crap and Facebook countdowns. Give us a scandal. At least they are interesting. 48 Hours From F-DayWell, folks, we are officially 48 hours away from F-day. The definition of F-day I leave up to you. It could stand for Facebook IPO Day. It could represent “finally”, the hype can end day. Some tired folks might view it as “F” it already. Or, you are “F’d” or will be “F’d” if you buy it. Then again, maybe it is just plain Friday. In case you missed it...LIG Assets (OTCPK – LIGA—$0.05) had news yesterday. LIGA announced it signed a letter of intent to acquire 100% of First Run Multimedia Corporation of Canada for CDN $350,000. The closing shall take place on or before June 4, 2012. LIG expects this acquisition to complement SuiteMagic. First Run Multimedia Corporation has been providing movies to the lodging industry and private cable television to hotels and apartment buildings for over 22 years. It is estimated that First Run contracts its services to include over 3000 hotel rooms in mostly small to medium size hotels and motels. Global Payout (OTCPK GOHE—$0.075) also had news. GOHE reached an agreement with Boundless Payment Solutions, Inc., to issue international debit cards to foreign residents. Through BPS' direct bank relationships, GOHE has launched a prepaid debit MasterCard with Cirrus/Maestro that can be issued to residents of most international countries. The prepaid debit card will be linked to a bank account that will allow cardholders higher usage limits and more banking flexibility. Cardholders can access cash at over 1 million ATM locations and purchase goods and services from 30 million locations and online merchants. The international bank issuer provides for internet account access and 24/7 customer service in 16 languages. GOHE is currently issuing cards to qualified international businesses. IZEA is the world leader in social media sponsorships (SMS), a critical component of Internet advertising. Industry estimates suggest that SMS could reach $3.1 billion by 2014 and as the only company that has mastered SMS aggregation and monetization, IZEA stands to reap huge rewards. Until next week… Analyst: Robert Goldman Analyst Certification Disclaimer It is important to note that while we may track performance separately, we utilize the same coverage criteria in determining coverage of all stocks in both research formats. 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