The subpoena and other things. First off, I believe that Star is sitting on a multi billion dollar gold mine if it is allowed to develop Anatabloc to it's fullest potential. What concerns me the most is if it will be able to withstand what seems to be endless attempts to sabotage the company by those with other agendas and the occasional shooting themselves in the foot by the company. I fully expected a dip of $.10 - $.12 after the quarterly report came out, due to the financials that most of us expected. The subpoena blew that estimation away. What bothers me is that nothing has been proven and no charges laid. This is all exploratory at this point and we have no clue as to who or what is really behind it all. If (and at this point it is a big IF)there is wrong doing discovered then appropriate action will be taken and I would hope the company would do whatever is necessary to protect the company and the stock holders from the fallout. As one poster explained, management can be exchanged (if they are at fault). What bugs me is that one of the benefits of getting rid of the RJR lawsuit was going to be all the money we would save on legal bills. Here we are right back where we were a few months ago.
On another note, I was happy to see that both Jonnie & Mr. P. have taken serious pay cuts at this point. I sincerely wonder if we need to be paying over $200,000 a year for the current I.R. position though. This is not a slam on Ms. Tuck, but with the way the company has such a tight lid on information at this point I almost see the position as useless. They could almost run it with a voice messaging system as it stands now.
Also, going forward as a bio tech company now I am wondering if it is time to look for a new COO. Mr. Perito is in his mid 70's now I believe and was brought on to head the company when it was in the tobacco business and facing all of those legal challenges. The company has now drastically changed it's focus and I think what we need is someone in the position who has a big pharma background and all the contacts that go with it. We are like a new company entering a tough but lucrative market and need experienced leadership to navigate us through to success. I believe that the scientists we have on staff are first rate at what they do but we now need solid leadership at the business end of it all.
Finally, in response to something I believe MWM brought up, Star needs to be looked at as a new company again at this point. They are now fully engaged in what is a whole new business for them and so it will take a lot more money to get it off the ground which means they will spend a lot more money on advertising then they will take in. That is just the cost of growing a business. The key is to try and grow sales as fast as possible to off set the cost of promotion. I have no idea as to what kind of time frame that might be for this type of business but I would like to see us break even by the end of the year.
I apologize for the length of this post. It is the result of a restless night (not due to worry over the company but these thoughts were a helpful distraction). Discuss, flame away or ignore as you see fit.
