#Shareholders update
27 messages in this thread
For what it's worth, I recently received compensation from Commodore
under the stockholder class action suit filed about 18 months ago.
The amount of compensation was *MUCH* more than I had expected.
Isn't this the second time in recent years that Commodore has had to
pay off the stockholders for being less than forthright and honest?
Given the repetitive actions, the Shareholder Movement might be able
to charge Gould with racketeering. Such a charge under Rico
provisions might shame him into turning over the company to someone
else. Who, though? Poor old C= might end up with the Tramiels back.
RICO ?!? Isn't that stretching it, just a little? CBM is/isn't
many things, but organized crime? Well, then again………
I think that's only first time that CBM has had to "pay off". I knew
there was a class action suit, but your message was the first I've
heard about how it actually ended up.
It'll be interesting how the Shareholder Movement ends up. I'll be
sending in my proxies to them when the time comes… Better to have
them get the votes then the alternative. 🙂
Can a US Federal grand jury indict a foreign corporation under RICO?
Can a foreign corporation be indicted? I'm not a lawyer – so I won't
speculate; but certainly foreign assets in this country can be
seized.
My recollection is that there was an earlier suit – about six years
ago. The plaintiffs were a couple of institutional holders who
accused C= of issuing deliberately misleading statements. I'm not
sure C= was found guilty; they may have settled without admitting
guilt. But I'm quite sure they paid off. And now they've done it
again. Repetitive criminal behavior is called racketeering. 🙂
Of course a foreign corporation can be indicted. As long as
they broke the law on US soil, they're liable for criminal
prosecution.
What was wrong with the Tramiels? Nepotism? Well, ok… They would
have marketed the Amiga, though.
>>What was wrong with the Tramiels? Nepotism?
You could probably add peculation, misrepresentation, component substitution
without compensation, stock manipulation, and a variety of other interesting
practices without risk of libel.
Of course, a coating of success can cover up lots of surface flaws. 🙂
It's easy to criticize, but they (the Tramiel's) took Commodore from a
typewriter repair shop in Canada to a multinational company with more than one
billion in sales. Not bad going. Gould's (current chairman) backing money
helped, but he was largely in the background. I agree the Tramiel's would not
be good for Commodore (or anyone) now, since they're "business model" it out of
sync with the nature of today's marketplace, but to only criticize their past
is not exactly fair. On the other hand, Mehdi Ali (current President) can ONLY
be criticized. Commodore has gone into a steady decline since he became
President. Commodore's progress has moved inversely to his salary (gag). He's
knowledgeable about finance, but knows nothing about how to run a computer
company.
I guess there's blame enough to spread around. 🙂 If Ali's so knowledgable
about finance, how come C= so often blames losses on currency fluctuation.
Hasn't he heard of hedging?
I know it's easy to criticize. It's amazing the company stays in business at
all.
Speaking of Atari, have you been watching their stock lately.
Mostly based on their Jaquar (64 bit game machine to be released soon) and
IBM backing, their stock ( ATC ) has gone from under $5.00 a few weeks ago
to 11.875 as of the last hour.
Jerry,
My understanding is that there is no "IBM backing". IBM's involvement is
strictly that of supplying a manufacturing line.
If you're looking at their stock (ATC) starting at "under $5.00" to the
current 11.875 you missed a large move. 2 weeks before it hit $5.00 it
was 62 cents a share and had been under $1.00 for many weeks.
-sja
Have you seen Commodore's stock price today? Closed up $1.00+ today. If the
trend continues, someone is coming to dinner!
John Chang
Observing Amiganoid
Here's the 52 week pricing history for CBU:
COMMODORE INTL LTD
COM
Cusip: 20266010 Exchange: N Ticker: CBU
Friday Weeks Weeks Weeks Friday
Date Volume High/Ask Low/Bid Close/Avg
——— ———- ———- ———- ———-
11/13/92 836,400 7 7/8 7 7 1/2
11/20/92 344,100 7 3/4 7 7 5/8
11/27/92 331,600 7 5/8 7 1/8 7 3/8
12/04/92 1,766,100 9 1/4 7 3/8 8 5/8
12/11/92 978,900 8 5/8 7 1/2 7 3/4
12/18/92 691,200 8 7 1/2 7 3/4
12/25/92 562,800 7 3/4 7 1/4 7 3/8 #
1/01/93 1,134,800 7 1/2 7 7 1/8 #
1/08/93 1,208,600 7 1/4 6 1/8 6 1/4
1/15/93 756,400 6 3/4 6 1/4 6 1/4
1/22/93 826,900 7 1/4 6 1/4 7 1/4
1/29/93 1,044,200 7 5/8 6 3/8 6 1/2
2/05/93 1,523,800 6 3/4 5 1/4 5 1/2
2/12/93 879,600 6 3/8 5 5/8 6
2/19/93 423,000 6 1/8 5 5/8 5 7/8
2/26/93 666,200 5 7/8 5 3/8 5 1/2
3/05/93 592,700 5 5/8 5 1/4 5 3/8
3/12/93 1,054,800 5 3/8 4 3/4 5 1/4
3/19/93 733,400 5 5/8 5 1/8 5 1/2
3/26/93 446,900 5 1/2 5 5
4/02/93 293,900 5 1/8 4 7/8 4 7/8
4/09/93 303,900 5 1/8 4 7/8 4 7/8 #
4/16/93 579,700 5 4 3/8 4 5/8
4/23/93 520,600 5 4 1/4 4 1/2
4/30/93 352,700 4 1/2 4 1/4 4 1/4
5/07/93 792,400 4 3/8 3 1/2 3 5/8
5/14/93 757,700 4 1/2 3 5/8 4 3/8
5/21/93 398,400 4 1/2 4 4 1/8
5/28/93 643,900 4 1/4 3 3/4 4
6/04/93 2,434,100 3 3/8 2 5/8 3
6/11/93 1,105,500 3 1/4 2 7/8 2 7/8
6/18/93 607,900 3 2 5/8 2 7/8
6/25/93 757,100 2 7/8 2 1/2 2 3/4
7/02/93 446,400 3 2 5/8 3
7/09/93 877,200 3 7/8 3 1/8 3 5/8
7/16/93 386,900 3 3/4 3 1/2 3 5/8
7/23/93 229,300 3 5/8 3 3/8 3 1/2
7/30/93 231,400 3 1/2 3 1/8 3 3/8
8/06/93 228,700 3 5/8 3 1/4 3 5/8
8/13/93 396,100 3 7/8 3 1/2 3 5/8
8/20/93 189,400 3 5/8 3 3/8 3 5/8
8/27/93 171,000 3 1/2 3 3/8 3 1/2
9/03/93 352,600 3 7/8 3 3/8 3 3/4
9/10/93 223,400 3 3/4 3 1/2 3 5/8
9/17/93 233,400 3 5/8 3 1/4 3 1/4
9/24/93 212,200 3 1/2 3 1/8 3 1/8
10/01/93 226,100 3 1/4 3 3 1/8
10/08/93 334,500 3 1/2 3 3 1/4
10/15/93 248,200 3 5/8 3 1/4 3 1/4
10/22/93 415,800 3 1/2 2 7/8 3
10/29/93 174,000 3 1/8 3 3
11/04/93* 1,065,200 4 5/8 2 7/8 4 5/8
* indicates a partial period
# indicates 'last' is from an earlier date in the period
Hedging is possible if you have something to hedge with. Commodore's cash
position is awful.
Wes,
Interesting….when I grew up, there was a Commodore Business Machines
in Conshocken (sp?) Pa. They didn't fix typewritters, they made adding
machines.
Don
Commodore began its existence as a typewriter repair shop in Toronto Canada in
1957 or 58.
Wes,
Yup…you're correct…I just checked the magazine database and it said
Tramiel started a typewriter repair shop in 1958.
Don
I am not quite sure where people get their information about
Commodore's beginnings, but I know that 'Commodore Business Machines'
started as a U.S. corporation (official filings data Oct. 1972). I
have one of their original adding machines (calculator), and I still
have my original 'PET2001' that I got in early 1976 (beta
tester)…and I was 11 years old at that time. 🙂 I still have one
of everything CBM has ever made, and I still beta test for them.
I keep trying to tell everyone that CBM is only the US subsidiary of
a multi-national entity… You've made enough off Emplant already to
afford a Lamborghini. You bum! 🙂
Do you have the C= Navigator handheld calculator? I bought one of
these for aviation use. It could give bearing, distance, and other
flight parameters by entering in the LAT LONG, etc into it. Must have
over fifty keys.
I was basing my information on what someone here had said,
that I originally disagreed with…that was later verified by a
magazine article I found in the Ziff-Davis magazine database that
stated that Commodore had its beginnings in a typewriter repair shop
in 1958 run by Jack Tramiel.
My own opinion prior to that was that Commodore Business
Machines was a Pennsylvania company, was originally based in
Conshocken and made mechanical adding machines.
Yeah, I think my dad bought a Commodore calculator that only did + – *
and / about 15 years ago or so… maybe more for about $125.
Commodore started in Toronto, Ontario, as an office supply company,
selling filing cabinets, calculators, and so on. Your name sure
looks familiar, Jim. 🙂
I have one of their calculators – a fine scientific model – and one of
their watches. But I've stopped being a Commodore museum, and have
given away most of my older machines. But you have one of everything
they made? Including a filing cabinet and a desk? Do you have B
machine? And a Z machine?? A SuperPet? (Just gave one of those
away). A Plus4 and a C16? Must be an interesting collection. But
Commodore did start in Toronto long before 1972. They started their
US operations in that year, I believe, but they had existed as a
Canadian company for a long time before they came to the US.
One of the companies I work for has a Commodore filing cabinet with a
"Made in Canada" legend. They don't know how old it is, but their
president won't let them throw away anything, including ideas. 🙂
Don,
Really…like they marketed the Atari ST? What a failure that machine
is/was.
Don