Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Stop Loss, next time if I ever invest again I will remember the concept. I am such an idiot to have rode this stock all the way down to almost nothing after investing way to much money. Yes it is my fault for averaging down so many times, I never knew that there could be a stock trading in the U.S. market place that would or could be allowed to Reverse Split investors out of all their shares and assets, especially in such a short period of time, with the blessing of the SEC as well. No SEC filing no matter how well written or composed should lawfully be allowed to do this, it is wrong on so many levels. It would be better to a stock I own stock go from 20 dollars a share to 15 cents a share, but leave me the same number of shares intact, in that way there is always hope for a comeback.
If the SEC or a Court of Law deem that any reverse splits enacted by a company or CEO of that company, were done unnecessarily and done to enrich those involved with any public company which trades on a major exchange, than those shares taken wrongly from shareholders should be replaced ASAP by the company or by those people in collusion with that company that profited from these transactions.
Question about a Forward split - is there any chance that a company if they did act improperly and found guilty of a SEC violation of some kind, can they ever be ordered to give the shares back to those shareholders that were reversed split out of shares. Does a forward split always have to be voluntary on the part of a company or can it be ordered in some fashion.
Down over 90% on this scam stock in just over two months. I also bought TOPS as well, down also over 90% in even a shorter time period. Pretty sad that you can buy a stock, a large investment (I am so stupid to have done so) and to be down over 90% in a few months is disgusting. I never knew that stocks this bad could even be allowed to trade. I knew it was risky but no stock should be like this ever, and be allowed to trade in America or anywhere in the world. Bankruptcy is one thing, a company not doing well is another, but dilution and reverse splits stealing shareholders shares and the SEC right there and allowing this to happen over and over again for years is sick. I hope the stock goes up 1000% tomorrow.
I want to sell it in the worst way and never look back. I will never buy another Greek or foreign stock of any kind no matter what, you cannot trust these guys to the right thing by their shareholders.
I used to love Greek food, I cant even look at a greek restaurant now without thinking about how this stock has robbed peoples assets away from them. I am sorry I feel this way but thats the way it is.
Down over 90% on this scam in less than two months
George Economou (shipbuilder)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Some Facts May not be accurate / Copied & Pasted from Wikipedia Page (Sic)
George Economou -
Born August 4, 1953 (age 63)
Athens, Greece
Nationality Greek
American
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation Shipowner & Art collector
Net worth US$1.5 billion (2015)
Board member of Owner of Cardiff Marine Ltd
Chairman of DryShips Inc
Chairman of Ocean Rig
Major shareholder of Danaos Corporation
George Economou or Georgios Ekonomou (Ge?????? ??????µ??, born 1953) is a Greek billionaire shipowner, CEO of DryShips Inc. and Ocean Rig, and the owner of Cardiff Marine. Economou owns oil tankers as well as dry bulk ships and manages them through Cardiff Marine. He was on the Forbes Magazines list of the world's billionaires on place 707.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Art collector
4 Personal life
5 References
Early life[edit]
Economou was born in Athens, where his father owned a small paper-products company.[2] He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he obtained an MSc in naval architecture and marine engineering, and another MSc in shipping and shipbuilding management.[2]
Career[edit]
In 2005, DryShips (DRYS) was listed on Nasdaq, but Cardiff Marine is privately owned by Economou.[2] Economou owns 34% of DryShips, but has been accused of running it like a private company for personal profit at shareholders' expense, destroying any shareholder value over the last several years with massive dilution and dubious forms of financing.[3][4][5] Economou has allegedly lied to the SEC in multiple 6-K filings and is now being investigated.[6] Despite the privileged tax status of the shipping industry in Greece - the industry pays no tax on international earnings brought into the country under rules incorporated in Greece’s constitution in 1967 - traders and other finance professionals caution against investing in companies run by Economou, on the grounds that his business strategy is to acquire assets personally and sell them on to his public companies for a profit, Economou getting cash while shareholders inherit operating risks exacerbated by further share dilutions.[7][4] Lloydslist remarks that "No one who calls their yacht Barracuda can be too concerned about safeguarding an angelic image."[8]
Since 2008, Economou has allegedly been doing affiliate transactions from his own private company to steal shareholder value.[9][10]
In March 2015, he had a net worth of $1.5 billion, and a fleet of 116 ships, according to Bloomberg.[11]
In November 2016, DryShips announced $100 million in financing from Kalani, a mysterious company based in the British Virgin Islands and Jersey, Channel Islands, which the "Panama Papers" show was incorporated on March 22, 1990 but struck off on October 31, 1991 after defaulting.[12] Currently, it is impossible to prove Economou is directly involved in the ownership of Kalani due to the British Virgin Islands status as an offshore tax haven that provides secrecy for its clients.
On December 15, 2016, DryShips announced a “comprehensive refinancing, deleveraging and strategic repositioning” that included upping the company’s credit facility to $200 million. It also included a $33.5 million payment to Economou.[3]
On December 27, 2016, Kalani came up with another $200 million refinancing agreement. DryShips then announced a new option contract to purchase 4 VLGC ships from other companies controlled by Economou at a total potential cost of $334 million for DryShips shareholders. Investors and traders speculate that Economou pulls the strings at Kalani, using it to recapitalize DryShips and unload assets at the expense of DryShips shareholders.[3]
In 2016 and 2017 Economou diluted DryShips shares four times through reverse split (total reverse split is 12,000 : 1) to decrease DryShips outstanding shares to 1 million. Then he issued 60 million new shares to make affiliate transactions from his own private company to sell DryShips four overpriced very large gas carriers (VLGC). In 2017, he reverse split the shares again at 8:1.[13][6][14]
Art collector[edit]
In 2006, he started collecting art, mainly from European artists of the early 20th century such as George Grosz, Pablo Picasso, Christian Schad, Werner Schramm, Andy Warhol, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero, Hermann Scherer and Heinrich Hoerle.[15][16]
Personal life[edit]
Economou's two former wives own a total 15% of DryShips. His sister, Chryssoula Kandylidis, owns 30% of Cardiff Marine. His nephew Antonios Kandylidis, is the founder and largest shareholder in OceanFreight, which went public on the Nasdaq in 2007.[2]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Magazine Article". Forbes.com. 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Curious George". Forbes. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Kalani Investments - Who They Are And Why They Love DryShips". Benzinga. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
^ Jump up to: a b Giovanni DiMauro (2016-11-18). "Worst CEO In The World? DryShip's CEO George Economou - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS)". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ Henrik Alex. "DryShips Becomes Toxic With George Economou Most Likely Standing To Reap The Profits On Both Sides - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS)". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
^ Jump up to: a b "Dryships Inc Drys Everyone Angry CEO George Economou". Smarteranalysis.com. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ "Why DryShips' Shares Vacillate So Much and How Its CEO Is Hanging Investors Out to Dry - The Motley Fool". Fool.com. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ "New Articles - 15. George Economou, Founder, Cardiff Marine - Lloyd's List". Lloydslist.com. 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ "Is DryShips a scam?". Caps.fool.com. 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ "DryShips Inc. (DRYS): Why Investors Are so Angry at CEO George Economou?". Smarteranalyst.com. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ Metcalf, Tom (9 March 2015). "Billionaire Greek Ship Owners Surface While Home Economy Sinks". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
Jump up ^ Juliette Garside. "Mossack Fonseca fined $440,000 in British Virgin Islands | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ Henrik Alex. "DryShips: George Economou's New, Revolutionary Approach To Ship Financing - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS)". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ "DryShips Inc". Dryships.irwebpage.com. 2005-01-09. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
Jump up ^ Tobias Timm (2012-07-11). "Dieser Grieche hat kein Problem". Die Zeit. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
Jump up ^ "A Greek hoard with a German accent". The Economist. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
Kalani Investments -
I know most of you have already seen this article but thought I would post it anyway.
1) Tradewinds Article
Toronto real estate tycoon is behind $450m DryShips deals
Hedge fund manager also revealed as investor in Top Ships and Diana
A real estate heir has emerged as the man behind the mysterious Kalani Investments, which is pumping nearly $450m into George Economou-led DryShips.
A TradeWinds investigation reveals that Toronto-based hedge-fund manager Marc Bistricer and his firm Murchinson Ltd are behind Kalani, which has also invested a further $160m in fresh equity into two other Greek companies, Top Ships and Diana Containerships.
This will surprise many observers, who had assumed Kalani to be yet another private business of Greek shipowner
DryShips And Kalani: Just Who Is Kalani?
Apr.14.17 | About: DryShips Inc. (DRYS)
Research & Investment
Research & Investment
Growth, momentum, debt, long/short equity
(1,543 followers)
Summary
DryShips generates more money selling shares to Kalani than from its operations.
Over the last few months, DryShips has sold about $0.5 billion in shares to Kalani. The latter has dumped those shares on the public (typical death spiral financing).
Kalani is located in the British Virgin Islands, as per the company's registration document.
British Virgin Islands (Image Source: Google Maps)
Deals between DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS) and Kalani are now close to $1 billion. To date, DryShips has sold $520.2 million worth of shares to Kalani - 140 million shares before the reverse split 1 for 4, just one of several reverse splits recently. In light of that, one might be tempted to label Kalani a day trader rather than an investor. With Kalani already dumping those shares on the public, DRYS stock is down by 99.95% within a few months. This translates to the common shareholders losing most, if not all, of their investment.
Source: Simply Wall St.
DryShips Dilution: Water under the bridge?
DryShips will sell the remaining $188.3 million worth of shares to Kalani over a 24-month period, as per the company's SEC filing. It's unlikely that DryShips CEO George Economou will drag things on that long, however - it's more likely he will collect the remaining $188.3 million from Kalani within a month. Don't be surprised if the stock spikes by 50-100%, and when it does, there will be more shares sold to Kalani, and again from Kalani to the general public.
About this article:Expand
Patience works sometimes with a legitimate stock holding, where the company has values to increase its worth and the net worth of its shareholders. Patience here will leave you with no shares after a few months and all your investment gone. The stock lives on, the scheme lives on, the CEO and his people continue to profit even when the stock falls and reverses, falls and reverses, falls and reverses until you have nothing except for a paper cup you can sit in front of the Starbucks near the New York Exchange with and maybe someone will throw in a nickel, make sure they are not from DRY SHIPS or else it will be a wooden nickel at that.
The CEO could do the right thing here by reversing the last two reverse splits of 1/5 and 1/7. That would make a forward split of 12/1 in the shareholders favor. The share price would go to almost 12 dollars a share, where it should be before the last two reverse splits. Of course I know this will never happen, as the CEO wants to suck every last dime out of every last shareholders and add those ill gotten gains to his own fortune. Disgusting what the SEC has allowed here, letting a company reverse investors out of their shares in such a short period of time. This will be my last negative post, whats the point, they serve no purpose to improve the shareholders loss. I would comment on the financials if this was a real stock that based anything on a real business model but it is not in my estimation, it is a equity that is used to solely enrich the CEO and others he has dealing with, without any concern at all for the shareholder.
I hope DRYS does go up 20 fold before all my shares are wiped out with the next reverse split. With a real company I would not have to worry about my shares being wiped out even if I lost 93% of my money there is always hope that the stock will come back again, but not with a company that takes away your shares through endless reverse splits while its board, and CEO and those he is affiliated with get richer. Even if this company is found guilty in some way I am sure most of the money they have made have been hidden throughout the world or funneled into other enterprises by now.
This CEO has such a wonderful track record of doing so well for his investors -
Take a look at the of the other companies like ORIG. I am not sure if he was ever the CEO of TOPS but they also are doing endless reverse splits, the same type of program that DRYS has made famous.
Here is an article from April 28th, 2017 telling how George was getting richer as his investors are losing everything, Wow what a wonderful CEO, so trustworthy and wonderful.
As Greece's DryShips Value Sank, CEO Economou's Fortune Rose ...
https://www.thenationalherald.com/159831/wsj-greek-ceo-made-millions-sinking-ship/
April 28th, 2017
If this company is found guilty of any type of trading fraud or SEC violations, than the CEO and all his cronies that helped to take money wrongly from investors should be locked up, investors should then be made whole again by seizing said assets from this company both here in the US and any hidden assets stashed abroad and give back to its shareholders any investment losses that should have never taken place. This company makes a profit on the backs and the misery it brings to their shareholders. They seem care nothing about the well being of those that have invested their hard earned dollars in this stock. This stock has shown me never to trust a foreign run stock and never to trust the SEC to protect the common investor in a timely fashion from unethical companies. A company has a duty to its shareholders, the only duty I have seen this company display is how fast they can wipe out your investment by endless reverse splits and dilution. Once your money is gone, it is gone, they could care less about you and yours.
The stock only needs to go up about 14x from where it is now and I will have my investment back from this bloodsucking Equity. Only 14x from where it is now. Hey it took no time all all to go down 14x, only a couple of months to lose most of my investment Dollars, those were real Dollars, real Dollars that were heavily taxed at high rates, never thought any stock could go down like this one did, I don't even like to call it a stock because it should be against the law for any stock to reverse split investors into such horrible loses. Trading this stock is difficult, Reading any financial statistics seems useless, it is not dependent it seems on any type of real business enterprise, it seems to me that it is only dependent on the manipulation by the very people we are supposed to trust to do right by us shareholders. Nothing wrong with the company making money, even tons of money that is fine with me, but only if the common shareholder wins as well. Making even one dollar profit while the shareholder losses their money than that dollar in profit is dirty money and will always be tainted.
No investor should ever be reversed split out of their holdings, never ever. What kind of safeguards are in place that an investor can lose 99% of an investment in just a few months time, it should be outlawed. The CEO and Board and employees of a company should never be making a profit of any kind while its investors are losing their hard earned honest investment. If a company has tough financial times than of course a stock should fall greatly, and the company as a whole loses as well as the private investor, but a CEO or Board or investment partners that are making commissions, fees and such while their investors are losing all their funds , this should be forbidden, against the law and is ethically and morally corrupt. There has to be some duty to the shareholders, there must be or else all we have here is a crooked system that can be taken advantage of by some slick lawyer with bad intentions and self interests. It does not matter how you sugarcoat any lawyer that can write up a SEC filing that says we are going to raise a whole bunch of money, and the shareholders are going to lose big time, and in some cases they will lose all their investment but we are telling you ahead of time so it is o.k. The SEC should never have allowed this or should continue to allow this from happening. There has to be a limit to reverse splits, there has to be a limit of how far and how fast a stock can fall after a reverse split. It is only logical to expect this of any stock that the SEC allows to trade on its exchange.
Have to get to about 40 dollars a share to break even now. I like Frontier Comm. much more than other high paying Dividend stocks that is why I bought in. Yes it would have be nice to still have that high dividend before they cut it a few weeks ago, but if the stock price could go up from here I would be very happy with that. I hope that FTR does really well in the future and does not go the way of another one of my picks of two years ago Sun Edison. I hope FTR is able to attract more institutional investors now that the price is above $5 dollars a share. Hoping for a few big up days here in the near future.
If a forward split is somehow ordered in the future would those who were reversed split out of all their shares by this scam, would they than have shares again, or once the shares go to zero shares because of the crooked dilution and reverse splits would they never have shares again regardless of a forward split. Can a forward split be ordered by the court, or those who lost all there shares to this scam be forever out of their shares. Why the SEC does does make a limit on reverse splits is beyond me, they are stealing peoples money by allowing any company to reverse split investors shares away.
Why is the SEC allowing this day after day, week after week, month after month. It is more than discussing what this company is doing to its shareholders. Sick, Sick, Sick!!! So one might say the SEC will not be riding in like a brave knight on a large white stallion to stop the scam stock called DRYS that is bilking its honest taxpaying investors out of 99% of their investment in only a few months, I would settle for any knightly person at the SEC male or female even riding a small pony if they can stop this madness and return some of the equity to shareholders that is has lost on this Scam. Reverse split, reverse split, reverse split, reverse split, reverse split, thats it your 100 Grand is gone next chump want to buy some worthless securities, I know you do. The company can short their own stock, does not have to hold a position in the common stock what a bunch of &T%$&(.
Losing 99% of an investment in a few short months is not just ethically wrong but it may also be criminal.
If what this company and CEO and the others who are associated with this stock, who have been taking the capital of honest taxpaying investors, if they are found guilty to have broke the law I for one say lock them all up for a long long time, seize all of their assets here and abroad and return the stolen capital to the rightful investors. Make the company perform some type of forward split to help investors regain the capital that was taken from them wrongly.
A company should be outlawed from making money off the misery of their shareholders. No one should ever be reversed split out of their stocks. The CEO should have to hold a certain percentage of common stock as well that would dilute and split as well. You should never need a stock to go up 16 times what you paid for it just a few months ago just to break even. If this CEO did play by the rules than the rules need to be changed ASAP, the SEC is useless to allow this type of action to occur in any publicly held company.
If Drys really wanted to do the right thing by its shareholders after months of dilution and absolute 100% hardship to those who bought their securities, those longs who invested in good faith with them only to lose most if not all of their money in almost no time at all, they would announce no more reverse splits for at least the next 3 years. That would give this stock at least a fighting chance. This action of doing reverse split after reverse split with no responsibility to its shareholders is just disgusting. A forward split would be nice but will never happen unless ordered to do so, which is doubtful. Like I said before nothing wrong with reverse splits, it is when after the split the stock falls 70% in a weeks time, this should be against the law. The price before the last reverse split was I thin about the $1.80 range, why did they even call for a split at that time, all it did was make the stock fall even lower right away. Is there no one protecting the investor of common stock, I think not. Even when a company goes bankrupt that CEO and Board and who ever else profited from that stock going under in salaries, fees, commissions or whatever should never be allowed to sell new shares of another company and rename the company something else, That companies CEO should also lose their profits and investments just like the common shareholder does. I see now that very little can be trusted and the SEC who is hired to protect investors is not there to help the common man. It is so sad. I would like to see the CEO of DRYS announce no more reverse splits for several years. Maybe he has made enough money now off of the shareholders losses and pain and will say to himself I want to do the right thing by my shareholders. I know you are saying wow you must believe in fairies and leprechauns too. All I have left is faith my DRYS investment is almost all gone after just a few months, Wow this was the worst stock I have ever bought.
The SEC employees who have knowledge of these constant reverse splits and have done nothing to protect the shareholder, why are they even employed there if these type of stocks like DRYS are allowed to continue to dilute and reverse split the investors shares. I have lost plenty in companies that have gone bankrupt and the like but never lost money like this to never-ending reverse splits and dilutions. If an SEC filing can be made that allows this type of activity than the rules should be changed so investors have some chance to get there money back when a stock goes up, not revered split out of all your shares, unbelievable to me that the SEC would allow this over and over again.
Maybe the SEC employees should that have knowledge ion this scam and continue to allow it should have all their wages and pension invested automatically into the CEO of DRYS next scam and watch there investment erode away before their eyes as it is reversed over and over again until their 100,000 shares becomes 3 shares, it is disgusting. Also let them pay their own medical and dental bills like I have too, some of us depend on our investments and are not on the Government Gravy Train.
A forward split of about 50 to 1 sounds about right with all the investment money that has been lost here. One thing to lose money when a company or Corp loses money it is another thing to have the money stolen through constant reverse splits. You say you should have read the SEC filing as that it what is said they were going to do, true I should have read it before investing, on the other hand the SEC should be protecting investors from scams like this wrote up by slick no good lawyers who could care less about the well beings of their stockholders. You can make money and still be ethical, it is sickening what is taking place here and the SEC should never allow it no matter how well it is written or stated, wrong is wrong, this is wrong
It has to go up 15X before I am even close to even. What this company has done to the shareholders is so crooked. If it is done above board with SEC filings then those rules have to be changed that a investor cannot lose there investment and livelihood like this. Some say the SEC can do nothing I say any SEC employee who had this go by their desk and and did do there job by protecting the investor from this type of scam should be fired and escorted from the building by security. They should lose all their wages and all their benefits including medical and dental insurance and all pensions. They cared nothing about those who invested here so why should they be employed to protect investors when they have not here with DRYS. I guess I should be nice and say keep your pensions at least but make their pensions be automatically invested in the next scam of the CEO of Drys and watch their money reverse split endlessly untill they have nothing just like us, and they will say to themselves is no one at the SEC protecting us from this scam, They will say I had 100,000 shares that my pension money just bought 6 weeks ago and now I only have 3 shares left, see how it feels lousy. That is money your family will never have again because no one at the SEC protected you, and you say that a filing done correctly by a smart lawyer is enough to steal people assets, it is not and should never be and the SEC should make sure this type of scam of endless reverse splits and then another 80% loss within 2 weeks and another reverse split and another loss of 80% and so on should never be allowed no matter what
Maybe the CEO and the board who earn almost 500,000 grand each per year should take a large pay cut of 90% until this stock is above 17 dollars again. This stock never should have fallen this low.
Take a Look at the yahoo page summary,there is a new article as of about one hour ago. A Lawsuit filed:
Look at yahoo page to read this article, it is listed on the summary page. It is the first story that appears below the summary.
Maybe this will help stop this madness of constant reverse splits, probably not but I hope so.
DryShips Inc. Believes That Recently Filed Derivative Lawsuit and Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction to Suspend Further Issuances of Common Shares Below a Certain Price Are Without Merit
Marketwired MarketwiredJuly 4, 2017
Investors in this stock should file a complaint with the SEC, will the SEC never intervene and stop this scam. NO MORE REVERSE SPLITS SHOULD EVER BE ALLOWED for at least 6 more months. As soon as they reverse split the stock goes down another 60-70% within a few days, what a horrible scam. Is their no one at the SEC protecting the investor buying DRYS or TOPS, it is just criminal. Why are these reverse splits even allowed so close together? I might quit trading stocks all together because of these scams that the SEC are allowing, and I love being a trader even when I lose money, but not when I am cheated out of my shares by excessive Reverse Splits, it is so wrong.
Hopefully there are no more Reverse Splits. I should have read the SEC filing better before investing, It is not the reverse split that is bad, you still have the same value after it splits its when it goes down big time right after it splits like Top Ships did last week. It was at .16 cents and Tops did a 1/20 split and went down 67% on Friday right after it split. There should be a law against this, that a stock cannot go down more than a certain percentage within a certain time period after a reverse split. Or a time period before another split can take place. Losing your money as the value of a company falls is fair and is a fair gamble, getting revered split out of your shares in a short time period should be forbidden and against the law, no one should lose their investment like that. It is morally wrong, it is ethically wrong. The company should care somewhat about its shareholders and the pain it brings to their life and well being. Stocks are a gamble I know, even blue chips stocks can be a gamble and I am willing to take that risk, but this is not risk, it is more than that and should never be allowed to occur.