Sunday, April 6, 2008

"Make your case Tim!!!!"

A fellow shareholder s_gator03 states..

" Tim is definately the man for the common shareholder to get on the Board " Is it possible he is taking advantage of this mess to benefit personally? I'm not saying he is but I would like to know what's in it for us holders to help him. How do we know he doesn’t become one of them and its business as usual after wards? Make your case Tim!!!!

Love you enthusiasm in the stock. There should be more passion from shareholders and management/BOD. The effort I have made as a shareholder is what I think other retail shareholders would like to have in the companies they invest or plan to invest in. The fact is retail shareholders have less information and less clout in dealing with the companies they invest in. Through the blog, message boards, the group shareholder meetings (cc) etc, I have tried to harness the resources of shareholders to provide shareholders with the information to make more informed decisions with their money (or whats left of it).

It is true that I will personally benefit if put in the board but it was not my grand scheme to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last few years to get myself a "chance" for a board seat. If I am on the board, I can be 100x more effective in what I have done so far, which I think is NOT business as usual. I will not be able to prevent secular downtrends in certain lines of businesses (PAS) but you can be sure that there is someone INSIDE that will not keep shareholders in the dark for months at a time (remember the PR about strategic options not resulting in anything and Wu being dismissed etc etc) and not inform investors when there has been material differences in the guidance and/or operational performances.

The other sad reality is that this company is not Apple which gets a lot of press and have major shareholders demanding performance. Every little move in other companies is well documented. Even Apple computer for example had to come out and defend their 10 million (calendar year) iphone guidance when it was questioned. Here, UT could drop 10 to 15% and nobody blinks an eye or offers an explanation. A rumor could start and no one would defend the stock.

Being a shareholder that has endured this downtrend and heard all the ways it can be turned around, I can bring that perspective to all the discussions. I'm sure there are good reasons that we don't know that management has not implemented some of this. But it doesn't help shareholders that don't know. Typical board members are pre-occupied with other companies that they serve in or their primary jobs. I can say this is my primary focus and will continue to harness the resources that is the shareholders of the company. Rather than losing major shareholders, I can have serious discussions with all the institutional shareholders and they can have confidence that their concerns will be addressed.

"How do we know he doesn’t become one of them and its business as usual after wards?"
When talking with the executive search firm, they ARE looking for someone with typical backgrounds and experiences to sit in the board. The last thing as a shareholder I want is for them to select another person that thinks its a "reward" to be on a board and not do a #@%#@%%^ thing for the shareholders and watch the shareprice slide 90%. (sorry for the spelling :-)

Anyway, the BOD "thing" is just one thing I and the other shareholders are thinking to enhance shareholder value. There are plenty of other ideas/moves to consider, plan, and do.