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| Thread: This ticks me off! | |
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Laelth
Famous Hero
Laelth rhymes with stealth.
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posted October 24, 2002 10:38 PM |
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Edited By: Laelth on 24 Oct 2002
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This ticks me off!
I saw this blurb on Celestial Heavens:
3DO Borrows $3 Million from CEO
15:11 PST - Angelspit -
3DO recently announced that it had borrowed $3 million from CEO Trip Hawkins for six months at 9,5 percent interest. This measure will help secure capital required by GE Capital Services. 3DO's stock closed today to 1.11, with a high of $25.12 during the past year.
Now, how is it, if the company's stock is doing so bad, can 3DO's CEO loan the company $3 million? Isn't it obvious? The CEO, and all the other insiders, dumped the company stock and made a ton of money, but in the process drove the stock price way down. All the ordinary investors got scre***, and the company employees, no doubt, are watching their 401K plans shrink to nothing. On top of that, 3DO is laying people off left and right. Finally, in another display of astonishing greed, the CEO plans to further rob his company on this loan. A rate of 9.5% is ridiculously high given current interest rates.
Ugh! I love HOMM, but I really dislike 3DO's management. Bring back NWC!
Very grumpily,
-Laelth
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Alan P. Taylor, Attorney at Law, LLC
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted October 24, 2002 10:48 PM |
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You are right, 3DO sux! I hate those large businesses... All they care about is money...!
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Camelnor
Famous Hero
Also known as Blue Camel
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posted October 25, 2002 07:09 AM |
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Ok, not to be rude, but really you are speaking out of ignorance. You don't know the situation.
You could be right, but then again, you could be wrong. Don't speak guesses as if they are truth.
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bizud
Known Hero
Mighty Donkey
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posted October 25, 2002 10:34 AM |
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Meh. Them corporate types are all the same. Money brings out the worst in people.
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Permanent resident of <a href="http://www.ziggy-shwa.com/forums">The Idiot Box</a>
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The_Gootch
Honorable
Supreme Hero
Kneel Before Me Sons of HC!!
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posted October 25, 2002 02:14 PM |
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Funny, I thought that the lack of money did that.
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HeyYou
Known Hero
and beloved food provider.
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posted October 25, 2002 04:13 PM |
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Camelnor
Please tell us which part of the original post you believe is a "guess."
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Lith-Maethor
Honorable
Legendary Hero
paid in Coin and Cleavage
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posted October 25, 2002 04:28 PM |
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3D'oh.... again...
first of all, money (or lack of) doesn't change people... it just reveals other aspects of their character...
on the 3DO thingie, we all know how much the care about HoMM (or M&M, though I never liked any of the games) ...if life was fair, 3DO would be out of the picture, probably making lame sport games, and NWC would either be freelance, or under the wing of EA or Blizzard or any other company... heck, I would even live if they were under Micro$oft's wing...
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You are suffering from delusions of adequacy.
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Wolfman
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Insomniac
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posted October 25, 2002 05:03 PM |
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I hate those stereotypical people. They're all the same.
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Laelth
Famous Hero
Laelth rhymes with stealth.
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posted October 25, 2002 05:03 PM |
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Quote:
Ok, not to be rude, but really you are speaking out of ignorance. You don't know the situation.
You could be right, but then again, you could be wrong. Don't speak guesses as if they are truth.
Point taken Camelnor, but, not to be rude, the only "guess" I'm making is that the CEO and other insiders dumped the stock. All the rest of my statement is factual. And if the CEO didn't dump the company stock, but instead held on to it and lost a ton of money like his employees, how can he afford to loan his company $3 million? The fact of the matter is that when stock prices go down it's because people are selling the stock. Somebody sold it--a lot of it. It stands to reason that the CEO has (or, more likely HAD) a lot of the company's stock. Company employees, who often get company stock as 50% or more of their 401K plans, are often prohibited from selling it. They probably didn't sell. The big stockholders did, and, yes, I'm "guessing" that includes the CEO and other top 3DO management.
So, there's my "guess," and it still ticks me off, even if it is a guess, because I think it's a pretty good guess.
-Laelth
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Alan P. Taylor, Attorney at Law, LLC
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HeyYou
Known Hero
and beloved food provider.
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posted October 25, 2002 07:58 PM |
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Wolfman
Try looking at the bright side:
You're unique - just like everyone else.
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Camelnor
Famous Hero
Also known as Blue Camel
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posted October 25, 2002 11:33 PM |
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guess - "Isn't it obvious? The CEO, and all the other insiders, dumped the company stock and made a ton of money, but in the process drove the stock price way down. All the ordinary investors got scre***, and the company employees, no doubt, are watching their 401K plans shrink to nothing."
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted October 26, 2002 01:45 AM |
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All I know is that this capitalism brings the worst in people, and that means that we can expect the worst. Why must they only care about money? Why can't some hippie run the company and make games to make the world a better place?
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Psychobabble
Known Hero
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posted October 26, 2002 02:16 AM |
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Call me stupid... but how on earth is this a bad thing? It's a pretty big thing for the CEO of a company to lend his own money to the company and at rates that are below commercial interest rates. He's putting his own money on the line for the future of the company... this is bad how?
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H4TCG Review
H4 Map Reviews
Successful trades w/Teuta and doc
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Laelth
Famous Hero
Laelth rhymes with stealth.
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posted October 26, 2002 02:24 AM |
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Quote:
guess - "Isn't it obvious? The CEO, and all the other insiders, dumped the company stock and made a ton of money, but in the process drove the stock price way down. All the ordinary investors got scre***, and the company employees, no doubt, are watching their 401K plans shrink to nothing."
Camelnor,
Was that supposed to be a response? With all due respect, and I mean it sincerely, if you're going to accuse me of speaking out of ignorance, you need to show me how I'm wrong. In fact, I want to know what you know. Your homepage is on the homm.strategy-gaming.com server. Does that mean you work for Tom Chheng? If so, you're an insider in the game software industry, and you probably do know more than I do about 3DO's situation. If so, share.
Please.
-Laelth
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Alan P. Taylor, Attorney at Law, LLC
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HeyYou
Known Hero
and beloved food provider.
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posted October 26, 2002 06:44 AM |
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Psychobabble
Quote:
Call me stupid... but how on earth is this a bad thing?
Per your request: You're stupid. I don't really think that, I just wanted to fulfill your odd desire to be called stupid. Strangely enough, it also gave me a small feeling of satisfaction. I'm not sure why.
~ ~ ~
When a wealthy person (CEO) lends money to the company for which he works at a somewhat high rate of interest, essentially he's just giving himself a "bonus" in the form of interest collected on that loan.
It's bad not because it's illegal, but because it's slimy, that's all.
It's evident from this action alone that the CEO of this company is interested only in improving his personal fortune.
(Anticipating the question that you're about to ask)
If his company needs the $$, then the non-slimy thing to do would be to take out a loan from a bank.
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"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
~ Hanlon's Razor
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted October 20, 2004 05:34 AM |
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I saw this thread as a "Random Discussions" link and brought it to the top.
There's been a lot of accusations and speculations about 3DO, both in this thread as well as others. I've had a little practice researching companies and stock. So I decided to do some research on 3DO. Since certain 3DO games are well liked around here , I thought some of this may be of some interest.
HOWEVER, since I was mainly doing research on the financial aspects of 3DO, insider trading etc., much of this may be dry and boring to some. So you have to pick and choose what's of interest. There is a lot of trivia type info about 3DO, most of which has nothing to do with Hawkins.
But First my 2 cents.
Quote:
Now, how is it, if the company's stock is doing so bad, can 3DO's CEO loan the company $3 million? Isn't it obvious? The CEO, and all the other insiders, dumped the company stock and made a ton of money, but in the process drove the stock price way down
What you are suggesting is the opposite of what would normally happen. The CEO and other large shareholders want the price to UP, not down. They go out of their way to keep the price high.
Trip Hawkins was the founder of 3DO and put large amounts of his own money in it. If it later turns out that his initial investment wasn't enough, he can choose to put more of his money into it. Think about it. Why would he do this unless he thought the new money might keep the company in business and remain profitable? To rephrase: Why would he put money into a company if he thought the company was going bankrupt with no chance of recovery?
Now for the research:
The ***stars*** seperate info from the various sources. Anything of mine is [within brackets]. The rest is directly from the source. All bold formatting added by me.
First a couple articles about Hawkins.
***********************************************
Article
If anyone in the electronic gaming world is on intimate terms with both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, it's Trip Hawkins.
One of the first employees at Apple computer, Hawkins left in 1982 to found Electronic Arts (known today as EA), virtually inventing the gaming industry along the way. In the process, EA grew into the world's largest video game company, and Hawkins became a zillionaire.
But Hawkins had even bigger dreams. Frustrated with the power that console makers like Nintendo and Sega held over game publishers, Hawkins left EA in 1991 to start a new company, 3D0. With a grand vision to create a powerful CD-based game console, Hawkins intended to win over game publishers by charging a lower royalty per game than Nintendo or Sega did. Despite investments and partnership deals with AT&T, Matsusnowa, MCA, Time Warner, and Hawkins’s alma mater, Electronic Arts, 3D0 was never able to achieve escape velocity. (For one thing, the 3D0 game console entered the market with a price tag of $700, nearly triple that of the competition.) In May 2003, after eating up nearly $20 million of Hawkins’s personal fortune, 3D0 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
********************************************
Article March 1994
http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/article/6961
Mercury News has reported that Trip Hawkins is starting another new company, this one focusing on cell phone games. .......... Hawkins is now back in the industry with a new start-up to develop games for cell phones...........
His new company, Digital Chocolate, currently employs only 10 people........
......Digital Chocolate will work to create sports games that resemble fantasy sports leagues, and titles for women that emphasize social networking.
********************************************************
3DO Ticker Symbol: THDO
Stock Last Traded: Dec 15 2003
Price on above date: 474.2469 USD
************************************************
Everything following comes from "EDGAR". "EDGAR" is the SEC's public online database for official and legal filings with the SEC.
http://sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm
http://sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=3do&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany
WARNING: The above links are extremely boring. The first is EDGARS search page. The second is all the 3DO stuff.
*******************************************************
Item 3. Bankruptcy or Receivership.
On May 28, 2003, The 3DO Company, .........
filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United
States Code........
*******************************************************
[ Note that the following excerts are largely, but not entirely, in reverse chronological order. ]
*******************************************************
On August 14, 2003, an auction was held in the Banrkruptcy Court to sell the Debtors' assets. The successful bidders at the auction agreed to purchase certain of the Debtors' assets groups for an aggregate purchase price of $4,585,000. The assets groups included "High Heat Baseball," "Army Men," "Might & Magic," "Street Racing Syndicate," "Jacked,", other backlist titles, and two different patent groups. The successful bidders at the auction included Namco Hometek Inc., JoWood Productions Software AG, Crave Entertainment, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Patent Purchase Manager LLC, Ubi Soft Entertainment, and William M. "Trip" Hawkins III.
**********************************************
Item 5. Other Events
William A. Hall, H. William Jesse, Jr., and Richard S. F. Lehrberg resigned from the Company's Board of Directors on June 29, 2003, June 30, 2003, and August 2, 2003, respectively.
On August 29, 2003, William M. "Trip" Hawkins III resigned from the Company's Board of Directors.
**********************************************
Item 5. Other Events
On May 20, 2003, after obtaining stockholder approval, we issued to our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, William M. (Trip) Hawkins, III, 1,764,705 shares of common stock and a warrant to purchase 441,176 shares of common stock in connection with the cancellation of $3.0 million of debt of the company held by Mr. Hawkins.
[ Note: this is not when Hawkins loaned the money, but when 3DO paid him back in the form of stocks and warrants (warrants are similar to stock options). ]
*******************************************
[
It would take a lot of copy and paste to explain why 3DO issued the shares to Hawkins. The bottom line is that NASDAQ required 3DO to do this in order to meet the minimum requirements to remain a listed stock on NASDAQ.
]
******************************************
3DO Press Release
REDWOOD CITY, CA (May 13, 2003) -- The 3DO Company (Nasdaq: THDO) announced today that it is evaluating its strategic options in light of continuing adverse
economic conditions that have reduced revenues and access to capital......
As a result, the Company has taken measures to reduce spending,.......... The Company is considering all of its strategic options......
*********************************************
Item 5. Other Events.
Pursuant to the Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification (WARN) Act, the Company provided 60 day advance written notice of a mass layoff affecting a significant portion of its workforce on May 2, 2003. The Company anticipates that the terminations will occur on July 1, 2003.
******************************************
[
All of the following comes from the most recent 10-Q filed with the SEC. A "10-Q" is the quarterly report of it's finances. It also contains a lot of written material regarding health of company, future direction of company, competition, etc. The 10-Q also is very close to the same report that goes out to shareholders.
This report was filed Feb 2003 for the quarter ending Dec 2002. Normally there would have been one more filing before the bankruptcy date. Either they didn't file due to a pending bankruptcy, or they sent in a "paper" filing instead of an electronic filing. Only electronic filings show up on EDGAR.
]
http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/898441/000095000503000284/p16661_10q.txt
[ ALL numbers are in thousands, so add three zeros ]
March 31, December 31,
2002 2002
--------- ---------
Total assets $ 44,876 $ 29,327
Total current liabilities 21,700 12,130
Three Months Ended
December 31,
2001 2002
------- -------
Revenues:
Publishing revenue $ 15,190 $ 3,431
Licensing revenue 43 576
-------- --------
Total revenues 15,233 4,007
Nine months Ended
December 31,
-------------------
2001 2002
Cash flows from
operating activities:
Net loss $(46,194) $(10,052)
Three Months Ended
December 31,
2001 2002
------- -------
Revenues:
PayStation 2 computer
entertainment system $ 7,419 $1,870
PlayStation video
game console 3978 412
Game Boy Advance 913 284
Game Boy Color 2,543 --
Nintendo 64 170 1
PC 210 1,412
Other -- 28
------- ------
Total revenues $15,233 $4,007
[the following numbers don't match the above because there are additional numbers involved]
" The Company recorded a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $50.5 million on revenues of $53.7 million for fiscal year 2002 and also sustained significant losses for the fiscal year ended 2001. At December 31, 2002, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $262.0 million."
"These circumstances raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The Company's continued existence is dependent on its ability to obtain adequate funding and eventually establish profitable operations though increasing revenues and controlling costs. The Company began this process during the third quarter of fiscal 2002 by implementing a restructuring program to align its cost structure with its projected revenues and to reduce future operating expenses. In October and December 2002, the Company raised $6.2 million through entering into a short term debt financing with the Company's CEO and Chairman, William M. Hawkins III. In January 2003, the Company increased the borrowing from Mr. Hawkins from $6.2 million to $12.0 million........"
"The Company will need to obtain additional financing in addition to the equity already raised through the sale of common stock and short term debt financing. The Company believes that additional financing is needed to provide the Company with sufficient working Capital........There remains substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as going concern....."
[Note: "going concern" means "staying in business"]
[ skips ahead to various discussions in the 10-Q]
"Localization typically consists of taking an established product, retaining the same game engine, which the Company considers to be a working model and translating the product into a local language. This localization is typically performed by external developers contracted by and reporting to the Company."
"The Company's video game and computer software products are now sold in international markets both principally through licensees, primarily in the United Kingdom and other European countries, and to a lesser extent, in Asia and Latin America. The Company's international publishing sales were approximately $2.5 million and $0.5 million, or 27% and 12% of total revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2001 and 2002, respectively."
"ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS
OF OPERATIONS
This Form 10-Q contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties."
[ They go on with a standard disclaimer which basically says "we can't predict the future so we're only guessing. ]
"OVERVIEW
We are a developer and publisher of branded interactive entertainment software. Historically we have developed products for several multimedia platforms including personal computers, the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the PlayStation game console, the Nintendo Game Boy Color hand-held game system, the Nintendo Game Boy Advance hand-held game system, the Nintendo 64 game system, and the Internet. We are also developing software, but have not shipped, for other next generation video game consoles including the Nintendo Game Cube and the Microsoft Xbox.......We develop the majority of our software internally in our company-owned studios. Periodically, we utilize external developers and contractors....."
"Revenues consist of the sale of software titles published and distributed by us in North America and Europe as well as license fees for software developed by us and manufactured, marketed and distributed by third party licensees in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia."
"Publishing revenues decreased to $3.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2002, from $15.2 million for the same period of the prior year. This decrease was due primarily to a 76% decrease in units sold during the third quarter of fiscal 2003 due to no new titles being released during the period, while the same period of the prior year had 6 products released. The unit decrease was most significant on the PlayStation platform (86% decrease), PlayStation2 platform (73% decrease) and the Game Boy Color platform (100% decrease)."
"........Each of our current brands is based on a well-defined computer game environment, or "fantasy world. We create fantasy worlds in our products that allow users to engage in activities that they otherwise may be unable to perform, in settings to which they may not otherwise have access.......We believe that consumers who have enjoyed game playing in a distinctive fantasy world are more likely to buy other products based on the same or a similar fantasy world. We offer consumers of our products both sequels and line extensions of games they already own, as well as new game experiences in different genres within a familiar fantasy world......."
[ Gee, I thought I was just playing a computer game! Glad they corrected me! ]
"We have experienced significant delays in introducing some of our prior titles and these delays have adversely affected our results of operations."
[ Hmm, I wonder what game they're talking about? ]
"In the nine months ended December 31, 2002, sales to Cokem International, Ltd. represented 14% and sales to Best Buy represented 11% of our total software publishing revenues."
"Mass merchants have become the most important distribution channels for retail sales of interactive entertainment software......... A number of these mass merchants, including Wal-Mart, have entered into exclusive buying arrangements with other software developers or distributors, which prevent us from selling our PC products directly to that mass merchant."
"Historically, the anticipation or introduction of next-generation video game platforms has resulted in decreased sales of interactive entertainment software for prior platforms. Sony introduced its PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system in October 2000. More recently, in November 2001, Microsoft introduced its new Xbox entertainment system and Nintendo introduced its new Game Cube console. In prior fiscal years on-going sales of our software products for Sony's original PlayStation game console or for Nintendo's N64 game console have been adversely affected as a result of consumer preferences shifting to newer video game systems."
"Although we use copy-protection devices, unscrupulous individuals or entities may be able to make unauthorized copies of our products or otherwise obtain and use our proprietary information and related intellectual property rights."
"Trip Hawkins, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, beneficially owns approximately 42.9 percent of our outstanding common stock."
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I quit. Digging through EDGAR is like killing legion zombies with one fly, one lizard and a cart.
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Vadskye91
Promising
Supreme Hero
Back again
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posted October 20, 2004 07:58 PM |
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o_O Can I just have a summary?
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Knowledge is power...
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Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
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posted October 20, 2004 10:19 PM |
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Are you saying I got a bit carried away?
I was just doing copy/paste as I went along. It kept getting longer, and longer, and longer.....
As far as the original post topic, I didn't see any evidence of wrongdoing by Hawkins.
He started the company with his own money and toward the end owned almost half of 3DO. In the year before the bankruptcy, he twice loaned money to 3DO for a total of something like $12M.
They were a public company and the stock exchanges have requirements which must be met to stay listed on the exchange. When 3DO started going downhill their assets fell too low and they no longer met the requirements. NASDAQ threatened to de-list them if their assests did not increase soon. 3DO's best, maybe only, solution to do this quick enough was to pay back Hawkin's loan by giving him stock. Erasing this debt means the net assets of the company increased enough to meet NASDAQ requirements.
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Adnama
Adventuring Hero
the one & only mad sorcerers
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posted October 22, 2004 05:28 PM |
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i must be stupid
i must be stupid because i have no ideer whot u are on about . i am asuming thet it is about a game cupaney if so whot games thay make. but i do agrey that lones shuld be handled by a banck it is safer that way and please dont start a thred about how much u hate people hew ask dum questons ie/ people like me . if u is not to pissed off that i asked this qutson can sume body tell me whot games thay make? i will be for ever in youre det. or olternatley just ignore me most sensible people do again i apolagise for my stupidity.
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(cart spell DYSLEXIC)A Smille wont kill u. But I might Go ahead smille!
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Daddy
Responsible
Supreme Hero
and why not.
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posted October 22, 2004 06:24 PM |
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Well, it was a bit hard to read your post  But well - Ths company this thread is about is 3DO - they created HoMM!
reg
Daddy
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