This was posted by Wing from Paul in March of 2007, and thought it's worth a repost. allie
Wing,
Small shareholders are of the highest concern to Spooz, and to me personally. I am not talking about “sport traders” who attempt to trade in and out of million share positions for a .003 profit. God bless them in their efforts, but as a group they don’t enjoy the market knowledge, strategies, tactics, techniques, financial strength or discipline of professional traders, and are therefore doomed to failure over time. I am talking about those shareholders who have invested in our company for fundamental reasons and are willing to hold the stock while building significant positions for the long haul.
Rather than offering meaningless rhetoric about the importance of small shareholders to Spooz, I would like to take the opportunity to provide factual examples of our loyalty and commitment to them.
The first Spooz shareholder, although he didn’t know it at the time, invested in Spooz in 1997. Spooz Publishing Group, Inc., a Texas “C” Corporation incorporated in 1999, transferred unto itself this investor’s equity position (together with positions of several others) through a merger in January of 2001. The sole reason for this merger was to make sure the small shareholders who had faith in us from the beginning were not left behind. All of these individuals remain Spooz, Inc. shareholders to this day.
When Spooz, Inc. became public in May 2004, we had about 100 investors who purchased shares at $1.00 per share or more. At the time of the merger, Spooz, Inc. had about 5 million shares outstanding. When the price of Spooz, Inc.’s shares began its decline from $1 to about 3 cents, we decided that this was unfair to our small shareholders. In August 2005, we issued enough additional shares to each and every one of those Spooz Publishing Group, Inc. shareholders to reduce their basis from the price originally paid (most at $1) to 2 cents.
I have long believed that small shareholders are, in a way, discriminated against by the very securities laws intended to protect them. They aren’t given the choice to invest in even the most promising companies because they don’t have a net worth exceeding $1 million and do not have incomes of $200,000 per year or more; they are not “accredited” investors. The truth is, this backfires more often then not. This is because most small investors are relegated to investing in stocks that trade for pennies, an area where SEC compliance lacks and so many companies take advantage of the small shareholder. Most of these companies are not in our league.
The truth is that most small investors are never provided the opportunity to invest in early stage companies of quality, such as a company that is preparing to establish the type of proprietary trading operations ramping up at Spooz. Spooz is different. It is our mission to bring sophisticated trading techniques, long sequestered in secrecy by professionals, to the retail trader. How hallow is that mission if we do not treat our small investor friends with the same respect and loyalty as offered to our customers?
We will send a tangible message to our valued small shareholders in a few days. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with any question you feel relevant. Keep the faith.
Kind Regards,
Paul D. Strickland, Jr., CEO
Spooz, Inc.
The secret to profitable investing is to buy into well-run companies at the beginning of their earnings growth cycle—before Wall Street takes notice and bids up the stock price.
My opinions are my own. You have to decide and do what's best for you.
