WIth the shareholders of this company there has for a long time been this cult of Robert Lanza. People have bene very willing, all the way back to all that BS that Gary Rabin was doing, to talk as if "Lanza" and "the science" were "pure" and say if "Lanza had his way" then none of the bad things that were going on with the management wouldn't really be going on. None of this has been based in reality whatsoever, as the captain has pointed out. This also seems to be a way that people can convince themselves that the massive losses in their ACTC positions were furthering the cause of humanity, and therefore more palatable to them to have 30-40% losses turning up in their brokerage statements. It seems that "Lanza" has been a-OK with everything the management has been doing for a long time. He is highly compensated, still owns claims to a boat load of that IP he created, and will have more revenue than ever under Astellas to work with than before. WIN WIN WIN for Lanza. He will even have more time to write more of that metaphysical stuff about the immortality of the consciousness in biological matter. WIN WIN for Lanza. Maybe he can buy a second private island off Japan with more dinosaur bones from the proceeds from his giant share sales. It surely seems he was sitting around thinking about "the science" and "curing people" all the time!!!!!
There is also the mentioned fetish of "the science." I admit, I did invest in this company because "the science" has always had an amazing potential (also for failure), and it's really clear now that Astellas, a big bluechip company in a totally different regulatory environment agrees: "the science" is worth something. Namely, 8.50 per share. Anyway, I think now it's clear that "the science" or "curing blindness" or other humanitarian or noble aspirations--like Jeffry Sachs talking about do gooding investing in clean energy--is completely contrary to the way that markets actually work. Lots of shareholders will feel bad that this whole talk of supporting the science was in the end a personal aspiration that didn't really matter too much. This is capitalism. This is a survival of the fittest and richest playground where do gooding does not so much mix with making money and trading. Sometimes the two things will coincide by accident or through a great deal of vision and sacrifice by particular leaders and organizations.
I've always found it hilarious when people used to talk about "Steve" as in "Steve Jobs" as if he were some personal good guy doing great things for humanity. Right on!!! I'd advice you "think different" about that!!!!! Same with "Lanza" and "the science". IMHO!
