from 8K released today...
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
We have received an increased number of calls lately in response to false and
misleading information posted on the Lycos Raging Bull website. In our
experience, the calls we are receiving represent only a small portion of the
concern that has likely been created by the Lycos Raging Bull posts.
Accordingly, the purpose of this correspondence is to address the recently
published false and misleading information universally. We hope to eliminate the
concern, but certainly do encourage all shareholders to call with any concern
that might remain even after reading this letter.
False Information and Why it is Posted
The Lycos Raging Bull website has recently had several posts regarding an
alleged inordinate amount of issued and outstanding NewMarket stock and an
inordinate amount of stock being recently awarded to me as the CEO of NewMarket.
This information is false and misleading. A variety of other posts related to
alleged scandal and management deceit are also to be found on the Lycos Raging
Bull website. These posts are all coming from a small number of individuals
posting under anonymous and assumed identities. Several of these individuals
have been previously reprimanded and correspondingly suspended from posting on
Raging Bull in response to past posts with misleading and false information. The
most notable of these are Tsheri and EVEN. In the last year EVEN was suspended
from posting on the NewMarket board for publishing false information and Tsheri
has been repeatedly removed only to modify his assumed identity and return.
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We believe the intention of these individuals is related to illegal short
selling. NewMarket has been recently named to the Regulation SHO Threshold
Security List verifying that the Company has been subject to illegal short
selling. We believe the intention of the misleading and false information posted
is to influence the genuine sale of stock in order to facilitate the coverage of
illegal short sales. We believe the misleading and false information posted to
be as illegal as the short sales themselves.
False Information and How it is Posted
The Lycos Raging Bull website is considered an entertainment site and as such is
not subject to any rules or regulations that would require the information
posted by members to be verifiable. The Lycos Raging Bull website is not a
source of professional stock market information. The information available is
ostensibly the opinion of the individual members.
However, in our experience, the information posted on Lycos Raging Bull does
have an influence on the trading decisions of individual investors and we
believe Lycos Raging Bull should be subject to NASD and SEC regulation. We
believe a number of stock market professionals receive compensation in
association with their publishing on Lycos Raging Bull and should be subject to
disclosing the terms associated with their activity on Lycos Raging Bull. We
believe Lycos Raging Bull's claim that members are protected by Constitutional
Privacy even when posting with the intent of influencing buys and sell decisions
is a sham and a shameful abuse of the Constitution.
NewMarket's Plan to Respond
NewMarket management has been aware of the illegal short selling issue for some
time. We have taken a number of actions to address the issue. For instance, we
regularly send written correspondences to market makers that reflect a
disproportionate number of sales in relation to buys in their daily trading. One
such correspondence to UBS Capital Markets, formerly Schwab Capital Markets, has
been filed as an SEC Form 8-K Disclosure. Now that NewMarket has been formally
recognized to have been subject to illegal short sales, having been named to the
Regulation SHO Threshold Security list, we will make formal demands to have the
individuals and organizations holding the short positions disclosed to the
Company so that appropriate reparations to NewMarket shareholders can be made.
We will also demand the disclosure of all related contracts intended to support
illegal shorting.
NewMarket's Financial Soundness and Ability to Overcome Illegal Short Selling
We appreciate all of our shareholders ongoing support and encourage further
calls related to any concerns. We see the calls as a compliment and vote of
confidence; otherwise, you might react to the misleading and false information
and never contact us to question the veracity.
NewMarket is a financially sound company. While we are disappointed in the
negative impact that we believe illegal short selling is having on our share
price, we are confident the impact is short term. With a working capital surplus
and continued sales growth, the Company is well prepared to sustain and overcome
the current illegal short selling activity.
Best Regards,
Philip Verges
CEO and Chairman
NewMarket Technology, Inc.
