THE BOTTOM LINE
With my new job, I have not contributed much to the Board lately. Very busy with a lot of overtime, of course not the type of overtime our bashers get, posting on weekends for little paychecks. Once in while, I checked in RB and left quickly, because of all the BS the bashers continue to pour out at an amazing rate. They’re still here after 3 years: it means the MMs are still making good money out of HRCT. It’s pretty sick. They have also managed to influence the shareholders a bit, since the share price is so low, it’s easy to be swayed.
They keep bashing HRCT with the same old tactics. Most of the attacks have nothing to do with the BOTTOM LINE. For example:
1. The company missed this target or that deadline: gosh, look at the records of IBM, GM, GE. These giants with hundreds of thousands employees even missed earning targets lately, not just filing dates. Big deal.
2. The management used “oversized rhetoric” during the heydays of the dotcom craze. So what? Have you read the pronouncements of Larry Ellison of Oracle or Michael Saylor of Micro Strategy? They are much bolder, rosier than Dr. Phan ever did. These are the big guys. I can cite millions of smaller Internet companies with better quotations. I forgot, even Dr. Phan was smart enough to foresee the bubble. Did he warn us in his letter dated 22 Sept 1999, right in the middle of the dotcom euphoria? In all of his letters, there were always reminder that the share price “Cannot Be Guaranteed”. His words,” In short, we are on a roll. However, it does not mean that our share price will rocket to the moon. There are too many market forces influencing our stock price, some of which are beyond our control. Over a long term, the price will reflect the reality, but in the mean time, watch out for the risk of substantial fluctuation of a micro-cap stock. Be careful with your investment money, especially if you do not have much. I always look out for your best interests, but sometimes, I am as helpless as you are.”
3. Another favorite attack is the claim that HRCT management has too many “broken promises”? All of the promises turned out to be the “promises” made between one poster to another poster. They have not shown me a PR that is false.
THE PERFORMANCE
What is really THE BOTTOM LINE here? For a trader, daytrader or weektrader, it’s the SHARE PRICE. They wouldn’t give a hoot about anything else. Since they’re in and out so quickly, I would not shed a tear for them if last week they bought at 18 cents and must exit this week at 14 cents. They know the risk. For an investor, the BOTTOM LINE is the performance of the company. We INVESTED in the company, expecting the share price will eventually reflect in the company performance and financial results, the up and down of the share price is not a major concern, since we don’t invest in “a share price”. Let’s look at the COMPANY PERFORMANCE: the real BOTTOM LINE for me:
1. Despite many “broken promises” like the bashers love to claim, the company REVENUE has gone from ZERO in 1999, to $1.3 Million in 2000, and to $10.6 Million in 2001. An increase of INFINITY over 2 years. Latest quarter, Q4 of 2001, the revenue was $4.7 Million or an annualized of $18.8 Million. It’s “impressive” result, no matter what the BS the bashers said. Remember, those numbers are in the good ole US dollars, not Chinese, not Russian. That’s the REAL STUFF, man. The rest is BS and distortion.
2. Despite the bashers’ claim that all “acquisitions” are “hot air”, the company operations have gone from ZERO in 1999 to owning the majority shares of 12 operating companies in 2002. Yes, that’s 12 companies with REAL ASSETS, REAL REVENUE, REAL EMPLOYEES. My friends who came back from Hong Kong and Shanghai and Beijing have nothing but praise for these professional business. The bashers never got out of their kitchen. The only “hot air” here is the distortion of these bashers.
3. Despite the bashers’ claim that the management is dishonest, out to fleece “innocent investors” like you and I, all I can see is the complete devotion of Dr. Phan in his work, his generous donation of 5 Million shares to the company, his donation of $200,000 salary etc.. Dr. Ching is continuing the tradition with his travel to 6 cities to meet with shareholders, his focus and determination to implement the company business plan. Other members are top players, from old hands like Manu Ohri, Stephen Tang to new managers like David Chen and Belle Liang. In fact, the only reason I invested and stayed with HRCT is the quality of the management team.
4. Despite the bashers’ claim that HRCT is a “dotcom shell” with no chance of profitability, I see Sinobull is China’s future Bloomberg, ETLK is China’s future Sprint, AI-Asia is China’s future Sun Microsystem, and E-Education is China’s future University of Phoenix. These are revenue and profit-driven business model, not just another bankrupt dotcom like Etoys and countless others with millions to burn. These comparable US companies were not profitable in their first few years of business, but giving them time, these HRCT babies will grow up just like their brothers.
5. Despite the bashers’ attack on China and the ethnicity of the people (racists always have a way to disguise their true face), I still believe that China is the fastest-growing market in our time and their GDP eventually will be bigger than America’s. With their market position, their first-mover advantage and their connection to the Chinese institutions, Hartcourt subsidiaries will reap all the benefit of such growth and size as long as they hang on for the ride.
LOSERS AND LIARS
Above are undisputable facts about Hartcourt, despite all the distortion and lies and slanders by the bashers. These facts are my bottom line for staying with the company. Here are the BOTTOM LINE on the true character of these bashers:
1. They claim that they have NO financial interest in HRCT. What kind of people who spend thousand of hours during the last 3 years bashing something that they have no interest in? Of course, PATHETIC LOSERS. Remember high school? What did you call a kid who sat at a dark corner who cursed and criticized everybody all the time? PATHETIC LOSER. You told him to go fukk himself and get a life. You don’t listen to his depressing babbling.
2. If these bashers do have a financial interest in HRCT and claim otherwise, then off the bat, they are PATHETIC LIARS. Remember high school? What did you do with habitual liars? You threw them out of the window. Or you pushed their heads into the toilet bowl and flushed.
3. Whether they are losers or liars, if we chose to listen and talk to them, and influenced by them, then we are partly to blame for the depressing share price.
THE BLAME GAME
When the share price is at historical low, doubts are plentiful and scapegoats are easy to find. We take our frustrations out on whatever we could find. Sometimes, I got upset and I wrote a few nasty letters to HRCT management too. However, I asked myself, “what good does that do to my share price?” Nothing. I did not sell when the share price was at the top. I made that decision, not the management. We could also blame the stock market, Alan Greenspan, the terrorists, the market makers, their bashers. But what good does that do? So I am content to ignore the unpleasant situation I put myself in and concentrate on making money on my new job. When I have the time, I go out and have a good time with my old lady. After all, we Americans are more blessed than 95 percent of the world population. We have the freedom, the money, the cars, the movies, the bars, the beaches, the strip clubs that most of the world would just dream of. That’s why I love everybody, including the disgusting cockroaches.
MY TAKE
As an investor, there is nothing wrong with my decision to invest in Hartcourt. As a daytrader, maybe your HRCT purchase is a big mistake. Who cares? It’s my money and it’s your money. Nobody else. On the bashers, even some of them might have a smart mouth, they are still the losers and the liars we remember from high school. A dancing cockroach might be cute in a circus, but it’s still a cockroach to be squashed in your kitchen. I predict that HRCT share price would languish for a while in this market condition, especially with intense manipulation by the MMs. If you don’t like it, too bad. Do whatever you have to do, don’t be a crybaby. I just hang on for the ride.
ENOUGH, NOW GO OUT AND HAVE A DRINK WITH YOUR BUDDIES. DON’T FORGET TO TELL THEM A DIRTY JOKE. DON’T FORGET TO LOOK AT THAT HOT LATINA. DON’T FORGET THE LAKERS ARE KINGS OF THE ROAD. THAT”S WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.
AI
