Dei Sub Numine Viget
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lenard, my comment was referencing the quick jump to .80. that will not happen. you may be an investor or a day trader. doesnt matter to me, if you are an investor then you must learn about MARA, and the individuals invovled. understand that thety took a 100 million dollar company and turned it into a mcdonalds happy mean that doesnt even have enough money to super size the fries.
most day traders are not successful. and while patters etc... reflect on how a trader trades, what you must know about MARA that a ton of shareholders will dump if this see anything near .70. people are waiting for a bounce but the bounce traders think they will see wont occur because of angry investors that were mislead my this company.
wow you have no idea what you are talking about
explain this....imagine what they would be paid if they actually knew what they were doing....
Name and Principal Year Salary Bonus Stock Option Non-Equity Nonqualified All Other Total
Position Awards Awards Awards Plan Deferred Compensation
Compensation Earnings
($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($) ($)
Doug Croxall 2016 511,210 509,000 — — — — — 1,020,210
CEO and Chairman 2015 496,200 575,000 — 137,095 — — — 1,208,295
Francis Knuettel II 2016 250,000 185,000 — — — — — 435,000
CFO & Secretary 2015 250,000 215,000 — 91,396 — — — 556,396
James Crawford 2016 184,290 50,000 — — — — — 234,290
COO 2015 185,002 18,700 — 31,989 — — — 235,691
Enrique Sanchez(1) 2016 183,196 — — — — — — 183,196
IP Counsel & SVP of Licensing 2015 220,833 25,000 — 45,698 — — — 291,531
Umesh Jani(2) 2016 225,000 — — — — — — 225,000
CTO, SVP of Licensing 2015 225,000 43,500 — 45,698 — — — 314,198
David Liu(3) 2016 114,583 — — 198,105 — — — 312,688
Erich Spangenberg(4) 2016 150,000 200,000 — 357,264 — — — 707,264
Richard Chernicoff(5) 2016 120,000 — — — — — — 120,000
Interim General Counsel 2015 255,500 12,500 — 709,492 — — — 977,492
Well the writing was on the wall a long time ago. This week just sort of confirms a few things. For most of the 2017 year, many investors questioned what is exactly going on and if in fact if anything is going on. The answer that we all guessed or assumed was confirmed. Not a damn thing. So what exactly did MARA do for a year to justify pay raises, bonuses and overall increased compensations?
To make matters worse, the justification and explanations of the silence now does infact come across as a complete myth. Why do I say that? Well we have been told that many deals, terms, conversations are not allowed to be discussed due to agreements put in place. Well, this week we find out that they either declined every deal proposed to them, every deal they proposed was shot down or deals were more fables and stories. Which also means, Doug couldn’t put his ego aside and just simply close any deal. Think about that folks…. THE CEO COULDN’T CLOSE A DEAL. THINK AGAIN FOLKS A MILLION DOLLAR A YEAR PLUS, CEO COULD NOT CLOSE A SINGLE DEAL that was worth talking about or impact MARA "bigly"! And why no sense of urgency, well when you make a million a year, things are not so bad. We will never know and to be honest it does not matter. Mara, now needs a makeover, the company will forced to make sacrifices and in other words Doug now has to be something he is not. Doug now has to be something he has little experience in or atleast shown MARA shareholders that he can put the company first and his own personal gain last, and most important Doug must now become a fixer rather than a promoter. To make matters worse Doug now has to be likable, but you have be humble first, you have to be able to take criticism and control your temper… anyone wanna call for an Uber?
You see, Doug was and still is an excellent speaker/influencer in the patent space. But what is he selling now, what does he have… not much. His ability to excite a crowd and get people believing in assets he owned which at the time could of been monumental are no longer in his arsenal. Does anyone even trust his word? Does Doug even care? Doug has never been one about saving, building a foundation, laying blueprints to create a strong company. He has been the opposite, and found the supporting cast that mirror his business ethics and standards, goes back to that me first approach and the sense of feeling entitled. Again, if MARA fails DOUG will walk away from this as a millionaire. This was a mechanism, a tool to create personal wealth. I challenge anyone to show me a stock decline 97% in a calendar year, and in that same calendar year bonuses and salary increases were approved.
It goes back to what I have said so many times selfishness, little to no regards to shareholders. To add more salt to the shareholders wounds (since only the shareholders have them) MARA is not an example of a company that had no potential and failed, MARA is NOT an example of company that simply couldn’t get a fair shot. No no no, MARA is an example of what happens when a CEO and its board are selfish and greedy. Do I think Doug purposely failed as a CEO… ofcourse not. He was never a real CEO in the first place. A real CEO puts the company, its employees, and its shareholders first. No different as a husband who puts his wife and children before him. How strong of a family unit could you have, if the husband put his children and wife last? Well, it is no different when running a company. MARA historically, showed tremendous sings of progress and growth. However, that initial sign of growth was immediately picked off and not left to grow and sprout. He was always FIRST and never LAST and that is the opposite of a REAL CEO. And todays share price and company reorganization is a reflection of not 1 or 2 poor choices, but a continuation of poor choices that have shown very little signs of change or improvement. Now the company MUST change, when the company provided plenty of warning signs, alerts, wake up calls, heads ups prior.
What did he sacrifice as a CEO? I ask again, a CEO is about making sacrifices, WHAT DID HE SACRAFICE? Did he buy stock? Did he not get paid or put money on hold to ensure the financial strength of the company was monitored correctly? Not only was that not the case, his personal compensation only improved and grew as MARA Market Value continued to fail and fail and fail.
Previously I made a statement that I doubt if in fact MARA is working on MARA but working on POST MARA, and this seems to be the case. My concern is what patents do we have and what are we doing with them, are acquisitions on the horizon to now refill an empty pipeline of not patents, but to refill an empty pipeline of business. IP Services is a term being thrown around, what it, what is the relationship to MARA… Will the company now be transparent since they are not being held back or will it be crickets?
I want to add one last personal opinion here, anyone who knows Doug, anyone who has spoken to Doug, if anyone has met Doug most come with the same assumption of who he is. A boisterous, and believable individual who can eloquently tell the company story and excite a crowd. He made a believer out of me. This was honestly one of Doug’s most favorable business attributes but it started and stopped there. Even though he failed miserably as a CEO but personally won financially… fact is….does anyone believe that he can learn how to be humble, does anyone believe that he has the business acumen and attributes to salvage a company, he couldn’t win when he had real assets, how is he going to win with nothing, is this the person we want to rebuild with, does he deserve this opportunity? I have talked to him on several occasions, in one ear and out the other. I have tried for years to understand the silence, and then figure out the moves they made that only were the opposites of what was said. I have offered advice, suggestions all on deaf ears because again, he is winning even though MARA is losing.
But, Doug’s selfishness might be the only small glimmer of hope. And ironically Doug’s selfish, and ME first mentality might actually have a positive for shareholders. Let’s just hope Doug doesn’t realize that it might benefit shareholders otherwise he might change that as well. With Doug making a mill a year, and bonuses from MARA he will do whatever he can to save that compensation package. For this to happen, MARA must stay alive. Because, Doug knows he will never make this type of money elsewhere. At best he will be a COO making 175-225k a year and a bonus package purely incentive base and well… good luck with that. Who knows maybe he is working on his exit strategy, and that might be the best money MARA ever spends.
When I think of what MARA could have been, I compare it to the story of Len Bias. A talent rich organization with valuable gifts, only to be destroyed by selfish acts that leave destruction behind.
To summarize Doug and MARA I would compare it to a saying.
“When you are dead, you don’t know that you are dead. It’s only painful and difficult for the others. It is the same when you are stupid”
Always trying to end things on the positive, I believe it is not game over, but this is a complete reorganization, MARA will be forced to make what might seem as difficult decisions soon, only to find out how easy they are.
All my opinion and I hope MARA figures this out.
To all the shareholders here... I have been in IPDN for a short while. But not new to the game like many here. I just have one thing to say, as many of you here probably know much more about IPDN than I do.
But I do know business, and at a high level. I want everyone to know that when a CEO writes a letter to the shareholders and reads the way this one does, it represents not only transparency which is always refreshing but it lets shareholders know that the CEO is in tune with his shareholder base. Regardless if this was a pressure play or not, this letter was accurate, fair, honest and most importantly written in a manner that addresses concerns and at the same time adding color to what is on the horizon without promising.
My opinion ofcourse
if you want to learn the stock market then you picked probably the worst stock to study. MARA follows no typical patterns of the stock market. This company is a binary event organization that from what takes place outside of the control of the company. Meaning, they are a patent company that a decision is made form the courts. etc...
if you want to learn the stock market and invest invest in a company that follows stock market trends then go blue chip for now.
Bclegg22.. I have been part of MARA for over 3 years (hands down the worst investment I have ever made, and hands down the worst run company I have ever witnessed, and and organization made up of the mos selfish individuals hands down. I do not give advice to anyone. however i believe this investment is to be considered SUPER RISKY. ask yourself this, would you get pissed or truly financially impacted if you woke up and saw MARA at zero? if, the answer is no, sell every share right now and take your 500 and do anything except leave it in MARA. However if it does go to zero and it does nothing to you financially and emotionally I say let it ride.
Keep in mind, moves made by this company are made without a care in the world about you but only for themselves. But the fact the stock has crashed from 3 dollars to 0.30 cents in 90 days might suggest it is oversold. and when i say might i mean .0000000000000000000001 chances
bottom line, if you are investing in this so you can pay your bills get the hell out and run.
yanquitrader, question for you. why would a financier help now? wouldnt that financier have a better entry point after?
hispped they also have up to march 2018 for reverse. something tells me expect the reverse before oct, and expect a dump of shares to meet those requirements.
good job doug and frank! a raise and bonus should be on the horizon!
If we could name 8-k's like we name war missions then this recent 8k would be called.
Operation: Save My Salary and Bonuses
Xmandingo, you are correct. However you should learn the history of MARA and see why your accurate statement does not represent MARA. Yes it is not an OTC however it might soon.
The reverse split unitl proven otherwise is nothing more for MARA to be able to sell shares.
Hell, dont be surprised if after the reverse split they award themselves a bonus on a job well done.
Learn a bit about MARA understand the frustrations shareholders have and then you will see why nobody cares about MARA.
have a great weekend.
yanquitrader still here... not sure why but still here as well. just waiting for the daytraders to move elsewhere
I have said it many times... most traders lose money. all these new traders here touting the direction of the stock off of charts that have no real significance to MARA do not understand the big picture here.
Nobody knows where this stock is going...not a chart and trust me when i say neither does Doug.
happy weekend...
for now i agree. i am not saying this is happening but they could of spent some marketing dollars to create volume so people(friends)
with shares can get out. all speculation i could be dead wrong. i trust nothing they are doing, i believe they have nothing going on, i believe day traders picked this stock to play for the next couple of days and will chew this and spit it out and move on the the next dog once they have had enough. nobody at mara has earned the right for me to think for a second or give the benefit of the doubt that something of substance is brewing, following the greedy selfish patterns this could be a complete grab as much as you can and salvage all that you can mode.
someconcerns...a few people on this MARA board have actually be involved in matching investments from the past... idcc vrng... im sure we will have other similiar picks.
The stock has turned for now a day-traders haven. not that fundamentals or actionable MARA events were ever moving the stock price, but as of now until the leaches are done trading this stock, nothing will make any sense.
This is another sign of weakness, if day traders can move the price so easily it shows the stock has ZERO stability, zero base. This will be for now a rinse and repeat process until the day-traders "who are wrong most of the time" move on to another play.
feeling better?
if todays stock price of .19 cents is the sun, then .25 cents is earth and 1.00 is pluto. most of us need to see 3 to break even. so 3 is somewhere in the Andromeda galaxy
After meetings and being 4 hours behind normal time I have at least for today time to think about my terrible investment in not only MARA but the CEO. Summarizing the events that have taken place over the last few years, never have I seen such failures occur at the expense of us shareholders. Making matters even worse, never has a company with so much promise fail so badly, but through the eyes of those very same shareholders, witnessing firsthand the CEO and his fellow colleagues win so much financially, to be clear they have all won, even if the doors close tomorrow they won. I believe now within my gut, that this was never about the shareholders, but this was about financial deals (mostly bad) to financially gain wealth from and protect his or her compensations, regardless at what it might cost the shareholders. I feel this way, because the CEO and its Board members not only did they not feel a hiccup regarding compensation but saw increases and and continued bonus payouts. This was a mechanism, a tool for them to use as a means to gain financially. From the misspeaking CEO at several CC’s, share price innuendos, projected future dollars figures only to be pulled, selling shares, zero communications…you name it we saw every form of a bad move at a business scale and ofcourse perception all in one organization. I blame myself, I should have left a long time ago once I realized who was running the show. It takes a special person or organization to take a stock from 6-7 dollars and bring it down to .15 cents a share, and during that process of failure after failures bonuses and increased compensation are being disbursed.
The company from my experience early on, showed policies and practices of a me first Shareholders last mentality. As of now, it looks like they are in abandon ship mode and they are trying to personally salvage whatever they can for themselves without a care in the world of Mr. Shareholder which would follow the theme since I have been a shareholder.
A quote from one of my favorite movie Goodfellas "And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from ... You light a match", seems very fitting here.
As I embark on my personal successful business adventures, clients and corporations much bigger and some smaller than MARA ever was or will be, I have never in my life come across an organization or an individual run a company so inefficiently. If you could put MARA in a business textbook, the title of the book should be called HOW NOT TO RUN A BUSINESS. The writing in on the wall, MARA is on life support. At this point I honestly do not believe anyone is working 10-12 hours a day on Marathon, but probably working 10-12 hours a day on Post Marathon. They are the ones that made me think this way, and until they prove otherwise, I will wake up every day thinking today might be the day MARA closes shop, sadly enough as a Shareholder what I should be thinking is, is today the day MARA turns things around.
Good luck to everyone, this is all my opinion, but I will be voting NO on everything.
I would agree with Justnkz on this one, but not go as far as calling anyone a liar. If Doug did infact say he was not close to finalizing any deals, and with whom that is a no no. Now, I can say I have also spoken with Doug on many occasions as well. He is very careful of what he says. He would not tell or say anything that he legally cant. Now we know he has said things on conference calls that I am sure he wished he did not but he has never had loose lips in terms of inside information or coming close to releasing inside information, atleast my experience with him.
Unless someone is "over the wall" of whatever the term is called then more specific details could possibly be discussed, but that individual would be in breach of his agreement as well.
With that said, Doug did say on his last CC that they are taking back previous CC projections, which would suggest that they are not close to any deals in the near future.
Just my opinion.
EMI24, pretty unfair of you to dismiss Doug is giving up shares. yes he needs to dig into his pockets for it to be louder, and yes he is giving up essentially something that may not be reachable, but nonetheless, he is giving away something. this could be a start, and also possibly one of the few things they plan on doing, but this event was either the easiest to do in terms of timing. dont get me wrong, doug and frank need to dig into its pockets, and they must do this.
i dont get it either. i get excited then something else happens. my guess on the reverse split is they need to have a reverse split high enough so when they dump more shares on us it sustains nasdaq requirements.
I love all these "daytraders" voicing opinion...
Facts
1. most day traders lose money
2. most day traders do not know how to read charts (using twitter or stocktwits for a stock to trade doesnt equate to trading market analysis)
3. most day traders know very little about the market and an understanding of true market fluctuations
So to all the new day traders here touting, welcome to MARA. If you think your day trading knowledge applies to MARA then you will be joining the rest of us shareholders that are in the red.
postle, youre still here!
beginning to think i was the only guy from years ago still holding.
That's it! Einhorn is Finkle! Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is a man!
Oh, my GOD! Einhorn is a man!
Bobby,
to put things into perspective as of today... i would say if todays trading price is earth then 1 dollar is saturn.
lets visit mars first which is .50 then jupiter .75...
I am not saying it wont or cant happen, MARA needs to reset and hit emotional share prices .50 .75 1 1.25 1.5
back to what?
porscha, criminal supersedes civil.
https://www.mied.uscourts.gov/index.cfm
you can see his schedule...
Hispeed, could also mean something as a criminal case taking precedence over a civil. i looked up his schedule and i think it seems to be this way. Goldmsith has new united states vs X on his calendar.
Mara got the 180 day extension for nasdaq
things are certainly setting themselves up for a real squeeze here. we could be days away from this happening.
yanquitrader, I agree and also disagree. There is a big difference with bashing on Doug versus pointing out mistakes that have happened and have continued to happen within MARA. I have written at length here many obstacles and bad decisions Doug has made as well as MARA, that is not a Doug which hunt.
The reason why it is good and also necessary, it very well could have played a part in the most recent CC, who knows.
I can assure you they read this board. If someone comes to this board and reads factual events that the CEO did in the past and that prevents them from taking a risk good for them. But, if MARA reads this board (and someone from MARA 100% does) and had an epiphany or a wake up moment, then good for us all.
I hope the Fortress deal gets dealt with, the pendulum will have a tremendous upward shift within the walls of MARA and the shareholders.
Yesterdays Conference Call
For the first time in a long time, the message delivered on yesterday’s CC was about the beginning steps of repairing some of the psychological damage caused by the board. To hear the CEO address what many of us have been saying was refreshing, but only if he follows through with the key points. It was nice to know the psychological concerns did not go on deaf ears. I hope Doug follows through on some of the key points, and these new temporary or permanent unselfish characteristics trickles down to Mr. Knuettel (who should not be off the hook), he was pretty silent as well, and he should be next to give up his undeserving compensation increase. However, you can’t expect the CFO to make the first move, it has to start at the top. The CEO sets the trends, the CEO sets the expectations, he creates the ecomsystem and this is honestly a start. Now more than ever, MARA is acknowledging that they have more than just the balance sheet to repair, and it possibly looks like they are attempting to fix them both by addressing it and acknowledging it. Good for DOUG, if he really believed it was game over, and if Doug honestly did not still feel “bullish”, then he would waste no time or effort addressing any of the issues shareholder’s brought up on this conference call, it would have been strictly about the numbers and pipeline “rinse and repeat”, this call was different now they are on damage control, let’s hope they meet the emotional guidance the CEO has set.
I thought it was a good move for Doug not to provide financial guidance (they have bigger things to accomplish), does it mean the 30-40 million is gone…possibly. But so what, nobody believed him anyways, not the street, not the market not the shareholders, nobody. So again so f’n what. For several CC in the past they hardly met any expectations on its guidance. Atleast now, Doug is controlling what he says so the street doesnt say once again say that mara again is saying one thing and doing another. This is another example of setting proper expectations, and truly taking into consideration what you say on a CC. Doug is understating accountability, this is another example of sometimes less is more. Again, in my opinion who cares, if Doug would of said we are still on pace for 30-40 million this year, nobody would care. Atleast now, he is carefully watching what he says and focusing on accuracy and proper expectations. Hey it is a start…
Fortress Deal, was something he also addressed which I think was good, I again do not think MARA bought 90 days to begin the search, I think they have something or someone ready and they are dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s. This would be a HUGE WIN for MARA, I am not sure anyone understands the significance of this possibly move. This could be the catalyst of what really puts things back into motion.
Delisting, I believe they will get the extension. I also believe that they are truly aware of the significance of NASDAQ status and will probably move this up in the order of priorities in terms of things to do. We will see how important the status is to the board and they can do things to maintain that status within themselves financially.
Overall, we are looking at a company that in my opinion has honestly hit rock bottom financially and emotionally. It is the perfect storm of how not to run a company, it is the perfect example of how to create a PR nightmare and a perfect example of putting ones foot in one’s mouth. Yet, so far they survived. Yes, they got lucky in the past, but I strongly believe the tone is to make this work and not give up. Yesterday’s conference call was the beginning of the reset button. I will wait a day to see how and where the price moves, but I am a buyer here, because I am somewhat a believer again. I will be adding shares sometime today starting tomorrow. I actually never thought I would be doing this, but Doug made the first move to mention shareholders priorities, and for that it is worth the DCA. If you believe this was not hot air (and I don’t) then this could be the bottom give or take 4-7 cents. Sometimes it takes certain people longer than usual to accept responsibility, sometimes it takes someone longer to look in the mirror and say what the hell did I do. It could have been worse, he could of said nothing at all, and for sure it would have been game over. Yesterday we saw for the first time in a long time the credentials of a CEO. Now, we see if they can execute.
All my opinion....
guys i see it reading as, they have 90 days to find someone to take over the debt, if that times passes then it goes back to the way it things were.
do they have someone... who knows.
but would they suggest 90 days and then begin the search... noway
do they have a few players ...i would have to think yes.
simply put, they are not doing this to buy 90 days with no possible scenarios already in the works.
again, if they can remove themselves from fortress and align themselves properly it is a significant move. I dont think the majority of the people here understand significance if this happens.
hispeedsoul, you are incorrect in thinking only 1 scenario exists.
this is good news to possibly remove itself from fortress. someone mara should have never of gone to bed with. nothing you can do about it, but if they should happen to find someone else and mara rids itself of fortress i would be believe this as a bullish play and i would be adding to my position considerably.
Drew,
Did Doug really say you to verbatim that he has made extraordinary sacrifices for the sake of shareholders"?
bought yesterday before close, wasnt going to but i figured what the hell patterns and charts have shifted.... lets see what happens today.
EMI24 great points. However, the key issue here is you said "Doug Said". So now that you are starting to understand the frustration of other shareholders, you can begin to connect the dots. Nothing has happened thus far from Apple, and it is fair to assume that nothing has happened or nothing is actually happening.
Until they prove otherwise, nobody will give Doug the benefit of the doubt. A time once existed where the street did, but not anymore. Which goes back to my previous post on how Doug also destroyed the singles and doubles that typically reward shareholders when IP Sector achieves certain milestones.
justnkz, good news will be drowned out and will continue to go on deaf ears until something real with big numbers is executed and attached. unfortunately these singles and doubles which typically add value on share price for shareholders are no longer benefits to MARA shareholders because doug destroyed that opportunity for all of us when he displayed selfish attributes for personal gain, and misleading and misguiding events pervious conference calls. so because he killed us so bad, people are now waiting for something REAL AND BIG. think of us being in the bottom of the ninth and we are down by 5 or 6 runs, and someone just hit a double... big deal we are still down by 5 or 6. and since doug killed it so bad for everyone (except himself financially), even a solo homerun wont do much. we need to load the bases and bring them all home.
Can Doug do that? the shareprice is saying until he does nothing will move. welcome to the MARA twilight zone....
EMI24, in all due respect... why should the shareholder be the one to restore anything, when Doug clearly does not care about the shareholders? That is like asking the woman who was raped to console her rapist, and no offense i feel like MARA raped me. Doug needs to apologize, doug needs to fall on the sword. Doug needs to explain his actions. He was man enough to take the money he should be man enough to explain why. In all seriousness, who here is not owed an explanation? And if we all know why this was done, so f'n what... Lets hear it form the CEO anyways. Tell us all what we already know or assume, but lets hear it from the CEO.
Until then, why should anyone take his or her valuable time to hold Dougs hand. You feel sorry for him, the man is making millions on MARA. Go tell a man who is making millions of dollars that there is an issue... good luck with that.
This is how a convesation would go EMI... figured lets have some fun going into the weekend after possibly the worst week in MARA history for shareholders....
flyers"doug there is a problem"
doug "whats the problem, there is a problem, i dont see no problem?"
flyers "the shareholders they are getting restless"
Doug "shareholders....why?"
flyers "the stock is down 80%, delisting is a possibility, 2 raises to keep the doors opened, you are giving out raises and bonuses but to make matters worse, those raises and bonuses are causing shareholders to lose even more value"
Doug "oh look a baby squirrel isnt he cute...."
Flyers "doug are you listening?"
Doug "awww and he found a nut"