uWink Inc. (UWKI)

[the big guy]

The word "dishonest" is quite gray in reality. Fact is, this company has not made the attempt to make good on the promise to shareholders, whether or not they could prove that in court.

Any company has to act in a way that is going to make money. In the best interests of shareholders, in other words. Sounds obvious, but really when you think about it uWInk did not do that. There is no Board of Directors of other mechanism to represent the shareholders, and it seems they have been screwed.

If they really intended to be a money-making operation in it's current form, they would have hired salespeople, not a restaurant operations guy. They would have been selling since WH opened. And they would have had cost controls. I could not believe it when they published their latest results and I saw they were still paying consultants. Having worked in the technology business, contractors are the first to go when there is financial problem. I have seen senior guys rely on contractors for their expertise when they get in trouble, which I think is unprofessional.

In looking at how they have handled things, it is as if they never intended uWink to be successful in it's current form. They got those restaurants open as if that was their only objective. And who knows how long they have been considering this new financing scheme? Obviously for quite awhile, without letting investors in on it.

They had about 9M from that offering. I remember reading that they intended to spend 40% on Operations. Well, that leaves a good 4-5M anyway for restaurants. They opened 2 at 1M each. They could have opened more, controlled their costs, and been able to survive on the revenue from those restaurants. They could have been patient and sales would have come in time. Sales takes time. But no, they spent it on salaries, consultants, and changed their strategy partway through execution. They blew it and spent it on themselves. It would seem that way to me..

It is too bad.