ASM (from a tired memory)
I thought the ASM meeting was excellent. I talked to Frank Marsala, Harry, Rip, Rich Fagan, and Ridgely Bogliano.
Sat beside Frank Marsala at lunch. If I remember right he predicts a conservative $35 after a NOK and Samsung 2G and 2.5G agreement; and predicts $40+ if street believes 3G contracts coming. He's very upbeat on IDCC and the mkt in general.
Samsung issue: (my understanding from hearing it at Bill D.’s room after meeting) was interpretation/speculation from a comments another shareholder received during a side discussion with an IDCC employee (name withheld) after the meeting. Speculation is that Samsung’s arbitration rate is lower than MFL rate. Ericy settlement forces the higher rate. Samsung biding time to try to weasel lower rate.
I respect Bill Espy and the others for voicing their opinions and raising important concerns. Harry kept repeatedly interrupting Bill Espy’s as he was setting up his question which didn’t help matters. In the end, I think the BOD got the message about shareholders thinking the # options excessive and the shareholders heard some detail from Harry as to why he needs them to attract and retain the talent. Harry was defensive of his 2 man compensation committee not having a conflict of interest. I took HC’s comments to be they’re discussing a change to the BOD. ?So maybe we’ll see additional outside director(s) added or ?
Funniest moment: seeing GH try to get Mr Espy to leave.
Tense'est moment: when Security Guard pulled his arm and got him away from the microphone for a second and Mr. Espy pulled away from the security guard and was finally allowed to finish.
The missing 20M share-votes for #2 are thought to be the shares held in Brokerage house name, not in individual investors name. Brokerage could vote on #1 and #3, but not #2.
Harry comment to a stock price of $140 was more like “wouldn’t you like to see $140 stock price?” And then something like “ I’d love all these guys to get $20M” pointing towards IDCC employees (execs).
Harry was clearly disappointed on #2 and took the blame for not educating the shareholders as to why it’s necessary. He said the board will meet and they will come up with a way to attract experienced talent and keep employees.
I talked to 2 execs about FDD and TDD and I didn’t come away with the impression that a contract was about to be announced. I seriously doubt they would risk even alluding to that. However, operators need FDD to upgrade GSM; so FDD’s needed now and is a much easier sell than TDD which would require more capital to implement. My take was that IDCC revenues from TDD is farther out than FDD.
Based on today’s events and discussions, I feel much better about coming months, and I’ll be buying more.
MO
SofaKing
