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Ron,
is it possible that you post the subscriber map under the info of this board? Sure it would e nice.
Will do - Give me a little time.
You bet.
It's just possible that Frank saw this as a black and white situation.
Pull out immediately and go into emergency mode to fix things quickly and worry about contract disputes later, versus limp along for an indeterminate period of time and look bad next to, and lose turf to, LOGO and Here!, or worse, loose the network and his dream completely after all the years of toil.
Once again, not an excuse, but the sense of urgency might have become unbearable for what Frank was trying to do in attempting to launch this revolutionary business.
Ron
"possibly many of the crew you saw were new hires"
Good point, and I don't know.
But I did see a few familiar faces that I recognized from the website images. (I don't receive Q of course.) And those who I spoke with did seem knowledgeable of the shows as if they had participated in them recently.
Since there apparently was a sudden shift from production at Firestone to production in Burbank, it would be interesting if someone like Skunks would chime in as to whether she saw a significant change in casting between production at the two studios. This would not provide data on the support crews of course.
Ron
A little data.
Some may recall that on a Sunday, well in advance of the open house, I managed to get over to the new Burbank studio to do a little nosing around. The news of Frank's purchase of the studio was still very recent. Don't recall, but I think it was just few days prior.
Anyway, since it was a Sunday I fully expected to find that the building was locked up tight, and so my original plan was to be merely able walk around the outside to get the lay of the land.
However, when I wondered on back to the parking lot and then walked through the back door I found instead a beehive of activity with all kinds of hammering, sawing and lots of people running back and forth throwing together various sets.
There almost seemed to be a sense of urgency in their activity, but the demeanor of everybody was almost jovial as if they were really into all the hard work. Lots of happy faces, as if they were looking forward to something important. Anyway they we're all working like they were possessed IMO.
At the time this seemed really curious to me since it was Sunday. But then I was informed that the studio was gearing up for their first broadcasts beginning the following day! That really took me by surprise.
Then, I ran into a very nice gal who said she was head of the (?) department, and we couldn't have exchanged more than 3-4 sentences because I felt I better let her go because she seemed so busy.
Anyway, I said really nice studio, and I'm curious as to how many shows will come out of here, since I know that you're already with Firestone. I was thinking neat, now Q has two studios to work with. And at the time Q was already broadcasting about 24 shows, so I figured she'd come back with 4, 6, 8 shows at the most.
But no, she instead said something like "I think all of them."
That caused my jaw to drop! Then (sorry, this is really fuzzy now) she added something like "We should be able to do much better now having our own studio to work with...and being in control.)
Anyway, what has transpired over the last day or two caused me to pull what I saw and heard on that trip out of memory, and I suddenly now think I see a correlation and a mental picture of what may have happened.
What I see is that Frank and Firestone may really have had a major falling out over something to do with production. Don't know exactly what it was of course, but I theorize that whatever it was, Frank's displeasure may have well also been shared and felt by the production crew.
Thinking in terms of Frank's "dream" maybe there really was a misunderstanding as to what Frank was expecting and what Firestone was delivering.
If so, think of Frank's predicament. With 24 shows to produce and probably with the mindset that "you only get once chance to get it right the first time" maybe he did confront Firestone, and when they couldn't or wouldn't deliver according to his expectations...and then at about the same time the Burbank studio became available...maybe he decided to grab the furniture and run.
I'm not condoning what either side did or did not do. But for Frank, with the prospect of possibly losing his dream in an intractable situation, maybe he felt he had to move quickly and decisively, or risk everything.
Kind of like the temperature is -20 outside and the landlord is furnishing only half the heat and electricity you expected him too, and he can't or won't turn up the thermostat.
Anyway, the main reason I'm going on like this is that in retrospect, I am feeling now that there was something going on that day among the production troops related to their feelings about the Firestone connection, something that got translated into what I was seeing as an urgency and buoyantly happy atmosphere amongst the crew toiling that day to get ready for production.
Or I could be all wet on this.
But I thought it was worth mentioning.
Ron
Good luck to you too.
Tell the truth though, I'm more worried about the predatory naked shorting practices of hedge funds than Frank right now.
Ron
"Ron, wouldn't you feel just a little more comfortable if Frank converted his preferred shares back into common shares."
Perhaps, but nothing is in concrete since he could change back again to preferred in an instant.
I think you have to decide if his ultimate plan is to share with us or screw us.
My take is that when he's got it, he's a very generous old soul, and there are numerous examples of that.
The starting of a network just for gays could be construed as one example of such philanthropy I feel.
Ron
"The problem is what if that is just wishful thinking? I worry that he leads us on until the end and then we get nothing."
None of us can discount something like that as a possibility; But I do believe there's a much greater probability that when he's finally "got it" he intends to share it.
If this were not the case he could have long ago R/S'd us to raise money since that temptation has been hanging out there for years.
That said, if the master plan has always been to grow the company with the express intent of selling it, then you can see that a R/S doesn't accomplish anything further either (my take on the reason he's always said that there'll never be one); that is, our fractional share of the proceeds remain the same before and after a R/S, so why do one?
I'm not saying that having more shares now doesn't give us a smaller fraction of the pie when the deal is finally done. But I'd much rather have Frank's super aggressive plan than be languishing for years bumping along the road with a milk toast plan in this cut throat market.
The other thing to realize IMO is that there is a huge dynamic at play here now, with millions of dollars going back and forth every day.
The other dynamic is the gargantuan potential lump sum connected with a selling price.
With these kinds of dynamics at play, a small portion of either or both could be brought to bear to wipe out the bloated O/S at any instant and without warning.
Ron
Junk - I agree with you on your point that what matters is follow through.
But for me I care very little about follow through on the inconsequential things like the CD. By the way, Frank played a short DVD about Q for us while we sat in his office. Not all that in depth but interesting nevertheless.
I would like to see the audit after all these years but I can even live without that too.
While we were sitting there, people were going in and out with things for Frank to sign or to look out. I don't see how he manages to juggle 50 balls at one time, but he does manage to do it, for which I'm grateful.
For me the most consequential thing in the "follow through" department right now is Frank getting Q to the point where it's enough of a household word around the world that he can complete his plan to sell it for a "quadrillion" dollars just so you and I can split the money LOL.
Ron
I'm very much feeling the pain about the pps along with everyone else Itesprit, and so I do understand what everyone is going through.
I'm only trying to draw attention to the not so apparent, somewhat unconventional path that Frank is taking us down, one that he apparently believes is capable of both catapulting Q into the limelight and making us whole again simultaneously.
I know that the share count is vastly greater than a few years ago, but so is the company dynamic with operations seemingly doubling every month.
So I think Frank's plan is to do everything he can to quickly acquire assets, burst onto the scene, trounce everybody else, expand around the world like a cyclone, bid the price up, sell the company, and send a quite respectable fraction of the proceeds our way.
I think that most of us upon leaving the studio were nodding to each other with the thought that, hey ya know this could work!
And, as I have commented before, I for one would personally also rather do it this way than have the most perfect corporate governance in the world and fewer shares, but take 2-5 years to do it because of a far more wimpy CEO at the helm than Frank!
Ron
Well OK then. Guess you'll be going back into frenzy mode.
At least we're both a little more content.
Missed my point didn't you.
Oh well, I tried.
Ron
Ultimately, the pps is simply not going to be based on valuation connected with Frank's perceived business practices (my words and opinion).
Folks - The game plan is that valuation is to be based on the worth of the assets of the company when it is sold, with proceeds going to the shareholders. (my paraphrase of Frank's words.)
It really is too too bad that more of us here did not get to feel the passion in Frank's voice first hand as he explained this in considerable detail to the several dozen of us that did get to meet with him at the studio recently.
It does make a difference to hear it first hand IMO!!!
And as part of the plan, Frank has zero aspirations of staying on as CEO when it is sold...rather he might stay on in some consulting capacity.
Therefore also, for those who are calling for Frank to step down, they most definitely are going to get their wish. It's just that it will only happen as I've explained it IMO.
Anyway, "Dat's da plan" according to Frank...We all heard him say it over and over again at the studio.
The current pps is admittedly causing a very painful time for all of us, especially for those who have an immediate need for cash.
And as someone said, the current pps is more like a referendum on Frank's business practices.
Yet this is entirely the wrong focus IMO because ultimately the real pps will be based on the sales price (my words and if we can hold out of course).
And if Frank can do a large buy back just before Q is sold, so much the better obviously.
I just know that every time that Frank adds another city, such as Houston, the assets are going up and that means the sales price is going up
And a sale and/or buyback could be announced at almost at any instant, yielding an overnight equivalent of several cents per share...maybe more...and that's what'll happen to the stock price IMO.
So here's the challenge for the brave at heart during this very painful time.
When dwelling on the current pps, see if there isn't merit in thinking less about what a crummy selling price the current pps is, and more about what a fabulous second buying opportunity it is!
All IMHO as usual - Ron
It's not that bad a walk Sputnik. I've done it twice now.
You can even plan your walk this way:
Go to http://maps.google.com
Use "Hybrid mode" and Search on:
3750 Empire Avenue
Burbank, CA 91505
That'll take you to the Burbank train station.
Use your mouse to drag the scene around.
The studio is the building with the rectangular white roof on Naomi St. to the NE near where Naomi intersects with Winona Ave and I5.
The label "N Naomi ST" in fact sits immediately adjacent to the building's front door at the highest zoom.
If you zoom in far enough you may in fact be able to see Frank walking around.
Ron
thanks for your great posts....
And for yours through the years as well!!
Ron
"So ron, how much do you think this station is worth?"
---------------------------------------
I'm not into pricing conventional and traditional businesses Junk. Respectfully, who the H cares what that station is worth!!!!!!!!!
"I'm working really really hard to get into Frank's brain and think ENTREPRENEURALLY!!!!"
I refuse to be weighted down by conventional thinking of the past when each of us here has the opportunity to be involved in a history making and unique social revolution that never existed before on this planet.
Who would have believed that a mere 24 months ago that people of any sexual orientation could get married anywhere in Canada!
How do you even begin to place a price tag on all that is implied with something like that?
By now people are catching on to the Australia deal farther down the page.
My main frustration is how it's taking so long for a lot of smart people here, mired by their conventional thinking, who aren't catching on to what's really happening right in front of their collective faces!!!!!!!!!!!
14.5 Billion...19.5 billion...21.5 billion....44 billion...50 billion...60 billion...what will it be next week?
--------------------------------------------------------
Who knows Charlie.
Maybe by the end of next week it'll be:
60 billion...50 billion...44 billion...21.5 billion...19.5 billion...14.5 billion................500 million!
If the network is doubling in prestige, presence, and asset value almost monthly, very soon he may have lenders falling all over him (like we get credit card offers) to lend him $50 million.
For a paltry $50 million he could reduce the O/S by $50,000,000/$0.0005 = 100B shares between now and next week!
A turn of events like this could happen at any time! Not to mention selling of the network for billions!
Ron
Thanks much Skunks.
It just continues to amaze how you're able to find the torrent of interesting information on what is happening out there.
Ron
No doubt that we're charging with warp speed now into whatever our future holds, and there is ample stress to go around.
By the way, here in Santa Barbara just 2-3 ago when homes were selling for a just a few hundred thousand dollars, people were thinking that no way would they be able to get much more than this for quite some time.
Well, about three months ago the average sales price cracked the $1 million barrier and didn't look back.
If networks really were selling for $2-5B, 2-5 years ago, who's to say what a potential buyer will project for the potential worth of Q - 2, 5, 10 years down the road in terms of worldwide sales (subscriptions, advertising, etc.)?
And if GLBT spending power is 600B+ per year in this country, what would it be when you include the rest of the world, which is 20 times our population? (Don't forget Q has NTI now to help with the distribution costs.)
I get a whopping $12 trillion per year of GLBT spending power worldwide! (in constant dollars)
I realize that I've overestimated by quite a bit by not using the subset having money and TV's, but you get the idea.
So, if I were Frank, I sure wouldn't let Q go for a paltry $1-2B, especially after we swing a few more carriage deals.
Say - Wish I could head to Vegas with you. Have a great time!
Ron
4HM - I don't "love" that the O/S is going up either.
But if the O/S, in going up by 5 billion today, means that Frank can grow the assets by $1 billion next month (more new hit shows, increased carriage, more intellectual property, more "name" actors onboard, more advertising to attract subscribers, increased stolen market share from Here and LOGO, etc.), which thereby enables him the following month to entice a starstruck buyer to pay $6 billion then, instead of $4 billion a year or two from now, then aren't we way ahead of the game??
Ron
Hey buddy - Thanks for chiming in.
Yep, those were the days.
The challenge was downloading bingo cards off of the web then trying to see how many you could play simultaneously without overlooking any numbers called out by Ted and Misha LOL!
At one time wasn't Frank offering a million dollar payout for anyone winning at the blackout game in under N moves? LOL
You know, I lived through the Mary Hartman era (whoops LOL).
And silly or not, it really was cult television in every sense of the word.
Personally, I didn't think that much of it, but I do remember that it became "must watch" television for a lot of people whenever it was on.
Ron
True - Still, every single thing that Frank has tried has been in the area of entrepreneurship...in other words bringing something new into the world that has never existed before, anywhere, anyhow.
Shouldn't we be a teenie bit willing to cut him some slack once in a while.
The guy is the energizer bunny, and apparently this time he's finally hit it...very likely soon to be able to sell some runaway assets for billions.
Given the two situation packages, then and now, I sure like now a whole lot better.
Ron
Belief is such a funny word MB.
There's the overweight wife who buys a new dress, then asks her husband if it makes her look fat in it.
He lies back to her...Actually to me, anything you wear makes you look thin to me.
And of course she buys into it.
And then there's hundreds of other examples of course.
So basically, OK. Frank plays multiple roles, half the time as salesman, the essence of which is telling us mainly what we want to hear.
And I'm not condoning it, nor am I saying he doesn't go overboard in this area.
But I've been here a long time. As have a few other folk.
We lived through the many months of Bingo and Auctions Television, for example. Because it was so much fun, we were literally riveted to the broadcasts a few nights per week, and played and participated along with Frank of course.
He just loved given things away, giving out cash to bingo winners, suddenly saying that an auction item that went for $50 was going to go for $20 (or even free)...I guess I always felt that he sincerely enjoyed watching how this made people happy.
One of us...anyone here remember our buddy JenniE?. She used to buy in bulk from Auctions TV, turn around and sell the stuff on Ebay...made some good money doing that. LOL
The guy's a real people person besides being sharp at making money; if you didn't live through it, I think you wouldn't know about this side of his personality.
So yes, I guess on the level where it will matter most down the line, which is where he will have lots of money after he sells the network, I kind of trust the guy.
My opinion only based on some of my up close and personal experiences with Frank, realizing that this may not work for others.
Ron
Hopefully Spock, it's:
"The shareholders are going to get the money. It's (not for) some turkey down the street. The shareholders are going to get the money."
I'll probably come under attack for saying so, but I do really believe that when Frank finally does get some big bucks as a result of selling the network (my previous post), he'll rightfully take some off the top for himself and those closest to him. But then his greatest pleasure in life, beyond knowing that he created QTN, will be to see that the bulk of it gets down to us.
One reason I say this is because (after being here for six years) there is a kind of very positive folklore about how he treats employees; his many kids; charities, etc.
We've debated for hundreds of hours about the times in the past when things were not so rosy, he didn't have money, and people regrettably were not paid what they were due.
But in contrast, apparently when he's got it (money), he seems to be very generous to a fault with using it to help others with it.
Same will apply to us. And why not, there's going to be such an overabundance of money to go around when he sells the network that "all will be served" IMO.
Nothing in life is for sure. But that's my take.
Ron
Funny, I now laser in on only one thing in there:
(And I regret that my messages fell on so many deaf ears yesterday, because I tried really really hard to be convincingly clear how we're all going to "squirt" out the other end of this really "cherry"...Ron)
All the talk of the importance of assets and...
"But the loss is going to disappear as I've told you people I expect that loss to gradually go down and it'll be gone be January or February and you'll start working on a profit but you're building a network. I mean it took CNN 9 years to become money making. Black entertainment channel sold for 5 billion dollars and they were six years old and they were still running at a loss when they sold. I mean these networks take a long time but when you sell them they make a lot of money. They don't sell for millions they sell for billions. And if you go through the list of networks such as the food channel American movie classics the bass channel the univision they sell for billions and that's why I'm building this network and that's why I shouldn't speak for them but I know that's why other small companies are building networks are building it for the sale. And that's why you work so hard to build quality programming so you can sell it. And that's why it's so important that the shareholders know that when we sell this network that the shareholders are going to get the money it's some guy in turkey down the street the shareholders are going to get the money and my family will get their money but the shareholders will get their money."
"So gay people only want to watch other gay people?"
So where did I say that?
I'm sure that gay people are into wanting to watch all the diversity that life has to offer, just as straights do.
Yet I'm guessing that 300 channels of watching exclusively straight human interaction may not be regarded as optimum from their standpoint, just as the spanish speaking population of the U.S. probably appreciates also having the choice between dozens of channels in Spanish, not only because of the language but also because such channels also often feature emphasis on Spanish tradition, culture, and person to person interactions.
I still see mostly good plus huge opportunities coming out of our present course, and you obviously see mostly bad.
So be it.
Ron
Don't be silly Froy.
LOGO is probably not going to be for sale, and I doubt if Here! will be either.
But even if Here! was for sale are you trying to say that it's got to be one or the other, them or us but not both.
Come on.
Notwithstanding that we're the best anyway, there's a thousand companies out there trying to earn a buck by trying to find attractive revenue streams, not to mention having a way to peddle their own wares.
We've been down this road many time before with cars, ladies handbags, and George Foreman grills.
The world is huge and its possible to carve out market share in thousands of different ways.
The world can support probably several dozen GLBT networks if they're all good.
As a matter of fact (and maybe I'm wrong) but if I'm gay, I believe I wouldn't be completely satisfied until maybe half of the 300 channels currently accessible on TV are gay oriented.
Ultimately, JMHO I guess - Ron
Thanks Island,
An appreciation for how the main plan had morphed into the selling of Q, plus the implications of that, suddenly starting hitting me the last few days.
I think another thing that follows from this new line of thinking is that we're all sitting around waiting and hoping that the announcement of some new carriage agreement or something like that will be able to push aside the O/S, and start the pps moving up, at least for a while.
But now I see that it isn't going to work like that at all.
The way the pps is going to start up, and it could in fact be a violent move, is with the announcement that an outside entity has approached Frank with an offer to buy us out for X amount of dollars, where X is a very substantial figure.
As soon as that happens people are going to start dividing that number by the current O/S and the pps could very well rise to almost that result over the course of a single day.
Then, another even more attractive offer may come in shortly thereafter as companies down the line are alerted to what's going on, and project how they themselves could use a great little money maker like Q.
Bit of a dream I know. But that's the way we go from here on out IMO.
Ron
I'm reasonably sure that Frank considers things like that to be only "white lies" David, all in the spirit of the ends will justify the means, everything he's doing is for our own good (OK his too), and we'll thank him someday if he's successful. And if he did tell us ahead of time he probably figures that we'd be calling him and the studio unceasingly, and then bring in the U.S. Air Force to strafe his office to try and stop him. LOL
Didn't our parents run things in the same way when we were growing up LOL. (OK bad example.)
We can't have it both ways sometimes.
We want gargantuan returns on our money and that's why we're in penny stocks. But then we expect our CEO to deliver by following the norms and strict etiquette set by the likes of GM and AT&T leadership.
Ain't going to happen in the dog eat dog world of competitive small business. Frank's in a mad dash right now to get to the front of the pack and stay there.
The main question is that in the end, can Frank deliver by following his own unique style and vision of what it takes (including the unsavory part - sigh).
If he can, then he'll be a hero to us no matter what means he used to accomplish it, short of breaking the law.
If not then well, we make the choice to stop or go on and try again somewhere else.
Ron
Welcome back Irish.
I really need to amend my previous post to David too because our individual percentage of the pie (separate from any R/S) has obviously been going down slightly as the O/S increased unless we bought additional shares.
And I understand your points too.
When we were in the office we asked him about things like that and he replied "well I needed to buy this" or I needed that to build the company so that I can sell it, which in the end will be benefiting shareholders.
If he figured that he wouldn't be able to sell the company for a long long time unless he did up the O/S, then I'm glad he did it because it means that we can get our money that much faster.
I've been playing pinks for at least as long as you I bet. And that's why I know that you're in part correct.
I think the main discriminator here is that previous companies really had little going for them product wise short or long term, so the CEO's ballooned the shares simply to "live another day"... until there was nothing left.
Here it's vastly different IMO.
The trade off of a short term ballooning of the O/S vs. allowing us to quickly become the preeminent national GLBT network so we can quickly sell it is worth doing IMO.
Therefore, whereas other CEO's have screwed us by ballooning the O/S simply because there was nothing they could do to fix things is vastly different than here, where Frank has a "runaway" (don't use other meaning please LOL) product on his hands and is obviously doing it for an entirely different reason.
That's why he won't screw us. There will be plenty of money to go around this time, so he won't have to (screw us) as others have in the past.
Ron
David - The sales price is the pie.
Frank will always get to eat slightly over half the pie.
And why shouldn't he...The company wouldn't exist without him.
And it makes no sense to talk about pies of different diameters unless you want to talk about different sales prices.
If shares are split either forward or in reverse, changing the number of slices that the pie is cut up in, David and Ron will still get to eat exactly the same fraction of the whole pie.
That never changes, because if you cut the pie into twice as many slices each of the slices is only half as big, but each of us gets to eat twice as many of them.
My whole point in posting today was to suggest that an outside buyer will place a completely different valuation on Q based on what he thinks Q's assets will do for him in terms of future profits, as well as even intangible things called prestige. He need never even know how many shares we have in our O/S. All he is going to do is dispense a lump sum, receive the assets, and head home with them. (Well not as simple as that obviously LOL.)
I posted previously that if Q's assets can be responsible for pulling in as much as 1% of the supposed $600B disposable income of the GLBT community, that makes Q's assets worth $6B a year to some suitor.
When you factor in that there are, say, 270M non gay people in this country, many of whom will want Q on top of the 1%, then how are Q's asset's not going to be capable of pulling in this kind of money for the buyer?
What about Q's additional potential appeal to another 6B people around the world on top of this someday?
Q will be worth far far more than $0.0005 x 40B shares = $20,000,000 to the buyer when we sell (or we won't sell), and we will be the beneficiaries of that.
In fact, I guess I'm saying that we may be worth 6B/20M as much (= 300 times as much) as we are now.
And a huge fraction of those proceeds (the pie) will be coming to us in various forms to split up in proportion to our unchanging individual percent ownership of the company when it happens.
And who knows, maybe we are so far down in the cellar because of mistrust of Frank as you say.
If that's true then I'm merely asking people to think about how we might fare on the day when multi billion dollar offers come rolling in, and Frank is no longer in the equation.
A factor of 300 times really gives one a lot of flexibility to play around with if you're looking to make a killing in the stock market, wouldn't you say?
Have a great evening David - Ron
Man - I don't how to express this without sounding funny myself but...
So you're saying that if I offer you 1/2 of a pie, or 50/100 of a pie, or 1,000,000/2,000,000 of a pie that you'll be fuller after you eat 1/2 of the pie, than you would be in all of the other cases?
LOL
500 - I truly do not see what 40B shares has to do at all with a potential company who is only interested in acquiring the assets of Q, all of which have been discussed numerous time on this board.
And QBID may not even exist after the sale, so it shouldn't matter to us if there's a 1000 shares or a 1000 trillion shares at the time of the sale. It's only percentage ownership that counts.
This also has nothing to do with a potential buyer's view of Frank or the current management and how they are or are not trusted.
Frank already told us in Burbank that he has no aspirations of going with Q when it is sold.
It also has little to do with debt IMO should there be some of significance.
That's because any debt will be totally smothered by, and will have little effect upon, the multi billion dollar sales price.
It's the Assets Assets Assets associated with a fully up and running and in place national TV network, and all that that means.
Ron
Thanks Skunks.
If true, then we have one of the greatest opportunities in the history of stock market right in front of us and most are not recognizing it.
That is, we're dealing with the misdirection inherent with a two tiered valuation.
At this exact moment, most casual observers are basing valuation on the O/S and the A/S when, actually, valuation is about to suddenly morph into one based on the sales price, and all that could come thereafter.
Man o man - What an opportunity this is!!!!
Ron
500 - Here is one way it could play out IMO.
I think that sometime ago Frank, looking at dozen factors of the political and financial landscape, decided that the best way to proceed was to pour every resource he had (yes, including share dilution), into building the company and developing its product line just as rapidly as humanly possible, and expressly in order to sell it!
In this way he could create gargantuan excitement as he burst onto the world stage, immediately snatch a lopsided amount of market share from LOGO and Here! and, most importantly, try to drive potential buyers, hungry for new money making formulas, into a (yes) frenzied bidding war for the company.
With this evolved approach, valuation per share is unfortunately sacrificed in the short term because the traditional market forces of you and me buying and selling vs. the dilution will probably not be sufficient to raise the pps much.
However, the real valuation per share comes a bit later as a result of the market analysis of the income potential performed by prospective purchasers who will very soon come to realize, if they haven't already, that this company is, or is about to be, worth several billion dollars.
The beauty of the evolved plan is that it saves us IMO easily 2-3 years getting us to, say, 3-10 cents per share, even with the present dilution.
With a more wimpy plan, where we hang back with maybe a few hundred million shares, but don't purchase the things we need to grow and to mass produce all the great new shows needed to attract advertisers and subscribers, we'll also get to 3-10 cents but it'll take much longer.
But in either case, the pps is the same: 3-10 cents.
So which would you rather have 3-10 cents now, or go to college (this is a joke) and have 3-10 cents after you come out?
Consider also this.
Once you positively hitch your star to sale of the company for a lump sum as the source of the valuation, we shareholders end up with the identical proceeds no matter how many shares are out there. (Our percentage ownership never changes with a R/S.)
This is why I believe Frank always found it possible to say that there would never be a reverse split.
My own opinion is that here is how it will play out from here.
Frank will sell the company for some billions to a private company who will then promptly IPO at $10 - $20, on a major stock exchange such as the AMEX or NASDAQ!
The deal will be structured so that in exchange for our QBID shares we will be paid the billions in cash plus deeply discounted shares of the IPOing company relative to the IPO price.
Plus with a little luck, we'll also be offered extra deeply discounted shares to purchase, all of which will allow us to keep our investment in Q going and, yes, under different management.
And of course we'll have the cash to purchase these additional shares from the cash component of the proceeds of the sale.
Very likely, Q will end up being the core business of the acquiring company.
Therefore, this effectively also simultaneously achieves Frank's and our other goal of quickly moving to a major exchange.
All hypothetical to be sure, and this may not be how it turns out in every detail.
But I do believe it'll be something like this, and that it'll all come together sooner than we think.
Ron
"the facts are the AS and OS...."
I know that you're into facts 500, so how is it that you and many others can't seem to look beyond the above fact to the most important fact of all, which is the fact that the above matters little since Frank's next primary objective is to sell the company for billions of dollars.
Dozens of us heard him unequivocally, and in no uncertain terms outline why and how he plans to accomplish this when we spent time with him in his office at the Burbank studio recently.
I have tried to explain a little of this in a few recent posts, as have a few others on this board.
Respectfully, it is of course entirely your own choice if you wish to expend umpteen hours focusing on, and analyzing, the wrong plan, but it sure does seem like a colossal waste of time given the real facts of what is going to happen next.
I'm going out for a few hours now.
Once again respectfully - Ron
"...what better place to be right now than the GLBT $640 billion market..."
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This statistic sort of provides a means of computing a valuation for QBID, or at least identifies what league we're operating in IMO.
For example, if QBID can garner, say, just 1% of this market, in terms of value of its subscriptions, value to its advertisers, etc., then we're talking about "a $6 billion a year company" in a manner of speaking!
So how difficult would it be to garner this 1% of the disposable income from this demographic.
Not very IMO, considering the fact that the presence and prestige of the company as an entertainment medium seems to be doubling about once a month.
Clearly the ability of Frank to sell the network for billions must be lying right around the proverbial corner!
Ron
I'm glad you more or less agree Kyredneck.
Incidentally, during the studio visit I asked Frank if, after a sale, he'd be asked to stay on to run things.
Suffice it say that his answer left little doubt that the new company would be installing somebody new to assume CEO type functions (that's not to say that he wouldn't be available to consult in the area of production, his first love, anyway).
Anyway, for those who pound this board day and night about Frank stepping down, I'm pretty sure they'll get their wish after a sale (in case they want to roll their proceeds from "Phase I" into the new company).
I happen to be super optimistic that Frank would be able to get top dollar for the network, and very soon too given the way Q's presence is seemingly doubling almost every month right now.
I have read that there's a real scarcity of original new programming concepts right now, and TV industry people are almost literally souring the countryside trying to locate any that may be available.
Ron
But..Ron..if Frank keeps raising the damn O/S, that sure does make it LESS money per share for us...
I was kinda hoping to make more than .03 a share or so.
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I see a two phase scenario DK.
The Phase I plan is to induce a short term geometric increase in share price, at the cost of only an arithmetic increase in the O/S.
In Phase I you jump start the excellence of the product to make the "candy bar (Frank's words) so delicious looking" that this leads to the explosion in carriage and buyout offers in the short term.
This saves us 2-3 full years in getting us to 3-10 cent level (my take on things).
I'm reasonably confident that Frank would never sell to a behemoth outfit, but to a smaller to medium sized one with GLBT leanings. And, after the sale, the network is not going to stop growing.
Therefore, in Phase II we'll have the opportunity to grow our 3-10 cents to a dollar or more by rolling our Phase I proceeds into the new company, if we so desire.
Having to wait until 2008 to get the whole process going, merely for the sake of being able to say that we have only a few hundred million shares in the float, compared to saving 2-3 years with a two phase "jump-start" approach like Frank is obviously adopting, is not only ingenious, but infinitely more appealing IMO.
Ron
IMO, I say ignore the current share price.
It seems apparent (and what Frank is undoubtedly thinking) that the real share price is going to be what some outside entity will be willing to pay for the company divided by the O/S.
What are the implications of, and what is an outside entity going to be willing to pay for, a now exploding new network that, based on recent events, is truly on the verge of being available in every home in the country (the world?)?
Frank has stated many times before (and he spent quite a lot of time reiterating this on our recent visit to the studio), that national TV networks like this (including assets, earnings potential, etc. like this) typically go for $2, 3,...5 billions and up.
During the studio visit he stated that to sell the network under this type of scenario was, in fact, his plan!
You do the math!
Ron