"Our financial statements are audited by one of the Big Four accounting firms."
Well that's the best news I've heard since this debacle began. In the 'hope' category, I'd like to see Hank Greenberg assert control, bring in a world-class management team, convince another Big 4 auditor to sign up and get all of the dirt out, restate if necessary, and establish a floor for this thing to rebuild. And bring on FH to conduct a marketing campaign, to date the shorts are the only ones who have conducted a marketing campaign about CCME and they've been quite effective.
As much as I have liked the management at CCME - they seem like nice people, etc. - I think they were a provincial group that was in way over their heads for a company that was building out a national ad network and listed on Nasdaq.
Hempton told the story about Greenberg responding to a crisis, it will take this kind of assertion if there is any chance that CCME will become a turnaround story, even then it would take a long, long time.
"I know someone who was on a trading floor for AIG in Taiwan. There was a big error and it potentially exposed AIG to hundreds of millions in losses. Everyone was kept silent because if it leaked then people would front-run AIG closing their position and thus increasing their losses. People slept at their desks.
But the next morning – fresh off the private jet from New York – there was Hank. He had come to take control of the situation – and he stood behind traders as they solved the problems for minimum losses. "
AI
