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At first appearance, this looks like you are screwing with the very people you screwed over. Appears low, even by low standards.
At first blush, it looks like the former CEO is trying to find a work around to the conditions of his severance:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2457505,00.asp
How much money did Wave stockholders give the Sprague family? How many years did Wave shareholders pay them? On appearance it seems like it was not enough and now they would like to compete with the hands that fed them.
Cypher,
on the service it sure looks related to scrambls.
New Wave, that is always the challenge when selling. There is always an incumbent or client that needs educating on a new product. There are always barriers.
List of non gov US-based employers with over 200,000 employees.
1 Wal-Mart Stores 2,200,000
2 Yum! Brands 523,000
3 McDonald's 440,000
4 International Business Machines 434,246
5 United Parcel Service 399,010
6 Target 361,000
7 Kroger 343,000
8 Home Depot 340,000
9 Hewlett-Packard 331,800
10 General Electric 305,000
11 Tata Consultancy Services 300,464
12 Sears Holdings 293,000
13 Bank of America 281,791
14 Berkshire Hathaway 270,858
15 Citigroup 266,000
16 Wells Fargo 264,200
17 J.P. Morgan Chase 260,157
18 AT&T 256,420
19 FedEx 255,573
20 Walgreens 211,500
21 General Motors 207,000
22 Lowe's 204,767
23 Aramark 203,500
Also,
as New Wave stated, much improved Webinar.
Also of note, Girish stated they have participants from 24 countries for the Webinar. Wave is either doing a good job getting the word out or he meant 24 counties. :)
From New Wave's link. 13:30: "We are working with a large fortune 50 organization that is looking to use the Wave virtual smart card for 250,000+ of their end users. And conservatively, Wave estimated the TCO (total cost of ownership) savings is about 60% and this customer came back and told us they expect to save about 80%."
This appears to be an easy sale. It also appears Wave can increase pricing and still save customers big $$$.
Sign on the Digital Dotted Line
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/realestate/sign-on-the-digital-dotted-line.html?src=me&_r=4
Second, in January, the Federal Housing Administration removed a major obstacle to going paperless with the announcement that the agency would accept e-signatures on all mortgage documents, and possibly on the actual note, by the end of the year.
“This has really been the last domino to fall,” said Kelly Purcell, an executive vice president of eSignSystems, a division of the Wave Systems Corporation in Lee, Mass.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already accept e-signatures. Now that the Federal Housing Administration has followed suit, both lenders and investors in the secondary market who have been uncomfortable with e-mortgages will likely feel more secure, Ms. Purcell said. And that’s crucial.
Alea,
the corner is a dark, cold, cruel place. I think Bill is fully aware of this and doing what he can to move from it.
Alea,
no doubt. Context is especially tough to grab without inflection or facial expression. This has taught me to be very careful with e-mail and written communication; except message boards!
Alea, my joking around is flying over everyone's head; except the ripper's!
Many moons ago during one of my first appearances in a banking board room I made an attempt at humor. I got a few snickers and a few looks around the room that sort of implied, "we don't do that here." The thing is, I do. Too serious for me = no good!
Dang it, now you made me look like a jerk! I was trying to cover that up!
Happy Easter ripper!
Said hacktheripper.
In case you didn't notice, I was kidding. Besides, I am well past therapy!
Barge, I should have included you in my prior post (people willing to put a view on paper), but you are just bloody crazy!
On a serious note, this might help push things forward with other OEMs as well. The need for advanced security is increasing on a daily basis.
Alea, I have disagreed with Blue and Awk, but respect the willingness to put a position on paper. I got hacked on the other board for repeating myself and arguing that investors were unimpressed with what they saw from Wave's security conference.
I am apparently too repetitive too repetitive and argumentative for Snackman's board and not smart enough for this one...whoa is me, darn it I mean woe is me! We need a third board! There are clearly more than two segments at work.
I am infected with a desire for Wave to sell some product. I truly think things are headed in the right direction, but it would be nice if someone found the gas pedal. There has been a push to increase the average sale. This has also increased the average sale cycle.
I hang out here because I need to get a few Wave things off my chest now and then and my wife is no longer good at faking interest in my Wave thoughts!
You have me figured out Alea!
Ricky-D,
no drop, price is up 25% from last week. Traders have vacated and market trying to determine normal.
Alea,
Why funny?
** I got the sneaking suspicion you want to be included in your list, wink, wink.
** "If Wave succeeds," How about, "If Wave does not succeed"?
** All things considered, I had a good chuckle. Perhaps I read your post in a funny moment.
That said, I truly mean you no disrespect, although I am sure it may have come off that way.
On that note, I would like to congratulate people like Bluefang, Awk and others who were more willing to take a position and open themselves up to criticism, making themselves vulnerable.
Very funny! :); absolutely nothing to do with tkc and dig.
You guys are good. Sounds like you know a lot. Keep it up. You are on your way.
Zen, I do not read all posts, so I am not fully informed of all that was said. I can at least understand being upset with the prior administration.
The payments for their services funded by shareholders was priced for success that did not occur during their tenure. Not to pick on anyone, but when you are pricing yourself for success you better succeed or prepare to be criticized. It goes with the territory.
I guess fair has a very wide range of interpretation and can be tailored to suit.
On a different note, these latest breaches can only be good for business. There is a large cost to a breach. I know factually that large companies have a raised level awareness about data security. No one wants to be the next T(t)arget.
Kisamura,
some broad generalizations? You have a bad experience with the military?
Captains of Industry
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2012/05/ceos_who_served_in_the_military_are_they_more_honest_.html
Are CEOs who served in the military more trustworthy?
By Ray Fisman
Ex-military businessman.
CEOs who served in the military are less likely to commit fraud
Alexey Fursov/iStockphoto.
From junk bonds to Enron to reckless subprime lending, every few years brings a new scandal and renewed hand-wringing over the decay in business ethics. This is naturally followed by proposed solutions—tighter regulation, harsher punishments for wrongdoing, perhaps even a Hippocratic Oath for MBA students.
Maybe business schools should think about sending their students to boot camp instead. A study of CEOs who have served in the military finds that companies run by former soldiers are less likely to commit fraud than CEOs who never served. But honesty may come at a cost to shareholders—the same study finds that military CEOs also produce lower returns at the companies they manage.
Thanks Ronle.
I think Blue's assessment of Solms is off. Opposite is not always the right answer.
Alea, I have no problems with speculative business and planning for the future. However, it has been considered in the context current cash flow and current stated of the business. Wave planted flags 10 years in advance of competitors in the SED space and then was abandoning it for new opportunities once it gained traction. The prior leadership thrived in a forever timeline.
Alea as you know, Wave needed someone committed to today's opportunities. No more pivoting. Capitalize on the here and the now. I think they have a new found focus at Wave.
Your joke didn't fall flat. Wiki is the truth, but digital property has a long way to go. :)
Ha, your accountant may disagree! :)
Alea,
bitcoin is not a currency according to the IRS.
Maynard,
he is a director at Rivetz, not Wave.
Alea,
you either trust your employees or move to have them removed. There is goldilocks just right balance Wave investors are looking for from the CEO. Focus on selling product now, but do not forget about the future.
At minimum, the file encrypt seems simpler and offers additional capability (cloud encrypted files) over Zix. Zix carries a $240 mm valuation. Someone just needs to sell something...wounds will heal quickly.
Change can be good:
The best-performing companies boot out one board member every year
By Jason Karaian @jkaraian 6 hours ago
Average-board-size-and-tenure-at-large-listed-firms-2013-or-latest-Kong-Number-of-independent-directors-Tenure-years-_chartbuilder
Being a non-executive director is a pretty cushy job. Although stricter laws have heaped more responsibility (and liability) on these board members, they still earn $250,000 for attending eight meetings per year, according to the latest numbers for large listed companies in the US. Nice work if you can get it.
But a board packed with retirees riding the gravy train—the average director in the US is 63 years old—isn’t of much use to a company, or its shareholders. Of course, a certain amount of experience is expected of board members, who offer independent strategic advice and approve big company decisions. But directors who stick around for too long can become beholden to management, offering a rubber stamp instead of wise counsel.
Full article: http://qz.com/196082/the-best-performing-companies-boot-out-one-board-member-every-year/
I believe MA is an At Will employment state. Not sure what additional caveats there are specific to MA. Whatever the case, lack of financial reporting controls (presumably within the domain of the CFO's duties) would likely be reasonable cause for severing employment. Hard to comment on the CFO specifically, because the entire organization seemed to lack discipline. This obviously starts at the top.
Dig, way too many examples of irregularities. This was a small, unprofitable business. Guaranteed bonuses, lack of transparency, and very little control support the need to make significant changes to right the ship. This was a 200 person firm. Companies with 100,000 employees have better controls; lack of sales is easier to explain than lack of control.
Dig & Alea,
all things considered, financial control issues at Wave are both surprising and not surprising at all. Wave appears to have been extremely undisciplined.
Perhaps I missed it, but this is the first picture I have seen of Wave looking like a team (http://twitter.com/WaveSystems/status/445925393560649728/photo/1) rather than disparate individuals. Teams win together and loses together. Individuals do their own thing and are disengaged from the company. Clearly I could be over reading this, but whatever the case, it is good to see.
Alea,
well we know the result in this situation. It pushed the focus to interesting rather than valuable.
Alea,
that clearly could be the case. The evidence certainly points to that being the case. I do not know the prior CEOs motives, but public evidence points to the fact that he cared more about his own pocket book than the people filling it. I could be 100% wrong, but the evidence strongly points in that direction.
D&O,
I think many people want to believe people are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, that does not always happen.
Shareholders count on the BOD to do their job and monitor the CEO. Without knowing everything that went on here, something was clearly broken.
On a different note, I think Bill has the chops to make good decisions and help Wave reach its potential. I think Bill is an over deliver kind of guy.
This is the problem when you get paid handsomely before you deliver. Nothing was ever delivered and after you are shown the door you collect more.
This was a large transfer of wealth from shareholder to family. It was earned on contractual grounds alone. This is why a strong board is required and it is obvious why there was a push for status quo.
Pay should commensurate with results, not effort. I don't know how you could feel good taking more from retirees, supporters and other investors having not delivered any value over your tenure.