This is my conjecture from years of experience with this company and its players.
1) When Steipp first came onboard, alone, on August 4, 2010, he was completely beholden to all of the influences of John Kang. He had no advisors of his own.
2) He was highly dependent upon the advice of Ricardo Antonio Salas, director, previous CEO and who orchestrated the IPO and hoodwinked Merrill Lynch, Baird and UBS into hyping LQMT.
3) It was Salas who pushed the Apple give away. It was Salas who pushed the sell-off of the coatings business so John Kang could still keep his fingers in the liquidmetal pie. It was Salas who orchestrated the Visser deal. Every one of these moves have been suicidal in not assuring continued streams of revenue.
4) Now we all know that lqmt coatings can be used in many applications, INCLUDING ELECTRONICS. There are many applications where just a coat of liquidmetal can increase the strength of another material (i.e. Head Skiis, tennis rackets, etc.) apart from the historical usages in the oil fields. It is my strong opinion that the selling off of the coatings business was a strategic blunder. For example, look at Materion today, where they could use coatings in some of their applications.
5) It seems very apparent that someone or some group wants to undo some of the damage that Salas did to OUR Company by steering Steipp the wrong way. Steipp just couldn't see what bad advice he had been receiving over the years. Instead of dismissing Salas before the first year as I personally recommended to Steipp on two occasions, he trusted him completely.
All of the mistakes Steipp has made with the company, Steipp has to own. But, somehow, having come to his senses, he now sees that he has been used by Kang and Steipp over the last five years and that ultimately, Kang and Salas were planning to take back control of the company.
I think the last two shareholder anti-Steipp votes made Steipp aware just how vulnerable he was, and, in no uncertain terms Steipp realized that some of the KBG holdovers were not in his best interests....he finally had a DUH moment and realized that he has been buffaloed by the old regime into making some disastrous mistakes. I think he has become very frightened, put up against the wall, and is finally doing something he should have initiated YEARS ago.
As to whom it is that made Steipp see the light, I cannot say.
It might be his wife, who if she saw what was happening with the Company in contrast with what happens in her fellowship meetings, told Steipp to straighten up.
It might have been some of his own counsel on the board who took the blinders off his eyes.
It might also have been Engel or Materion who, at arms length could tell that Liquidmetal was not being managed the way they manage their company
In no way do I think it is Apple, because Apple has everything they need from LQMT in perpetuity...regardless of whom is managing the company.
But frankly, I believe it is due to the soundness of Paul Hauck, who knows the industry and trade that Liquidmetal is trying to enter (supplant or augment the powder metallurgical, MIM sector) and his counsel that have wisened up Steipp who has been clueless all these years. Perhaps, in a moment of profound humility, Steipp has come to admit to himself that drastic changes are needed within the structure of management which he himself has built or allowed to continue and it is unavoidable, on the dire budgetary straits of the Company, to continue to carry dead wood and at the same time bring in the necessary hires to do the job right. (Remember, Steipp is not an entrepreneur, a pull yourself up by your own bootstraps kind of guy. He is a big staff CEO that expects everything to be done by his staff (no matter how incompetent) and rules by consensus of incompetents. I think he now knows that Steipp has been the biggest shortcoming to leading Liquidmetal forward and he has no choice but to make some drastic changes to save himself.
The second reality is the 30 million dollar line of credit...and this is the most pressing scenario....NO MORE MONEY as the stock plummets.......I am sure that these creditors have had some very serious discussions with Steipp and have demanded some housecleaning to make the company viable. When push comes to shove, it is the CREDITORS who make DEMANDS.
With Salas off of the Board of Directors, the creditors have a great opportunity to seat one of their own appointees who will be a positive force on the board, and most likely, will replace ABDI MAHAMEDI, the playboy, as Chairman of the Board.
THen the company has a chance.
For those who do not think this is possible, please go back and review how Nelson Obus and Dwight Mamanteo who along with yours truly, effected changes at LQMT, brought about Kang's ouster and, at least temporarily, seated Martin Weinstein (former chairman of Chromalloy, and acknowledged expert in amorphous metals) as co-chairman fo LQMT alongside ABDI, but who within 90 days, resigned.
AI
