I used to read him when he was at Agora and have been trying to sign up with him again, but he doesn't accept subscribers. He left Agora because he hated the hypey pieces they wrote. He doesn't call himself a PR or IR rep. He calls himself an analyst/activist, and he's antagonized a lot of companies with his methods -- sending out blistering letters the way hedge fund activists do, etc.. The info might be wrong, but the person who told me said he had it on "good authority." I used to read Wayneberg, like I said, and GWDC could do a lot worse. In fact they have.
A while ago, on another board, after being taken to task for putting up bearish companies about a company he had been covering for years, he explained what he does this way. (I've X'd out the company's ticker symbol.):
Six months ago, I was asked by a private company (still private) if I would consider acting as a consultant to them on all matters relating to the creation of long-term shareholder value and mitigation of short-term price drift. Yes, this involves marketing and advertising. It does not involve crass, hyperbolic promotion in the Masterson style. Think Chiat Day meets Sanford Bernstein, and you have an idea of what marketing done my way means. And again, creating and maximizing shareholder value -- which should be the primary objective of any public company -- to make its investors wealthy -- involves more than slick ad copy. Effective communication is just one of ten value-creating principles cited by Alfred Rappaport, Leonard Spacek Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and while it's an important part of what I provide, it's just one part -- and only because the correlation between marketing and shareholder value is so thoroughly established. At any rate, I consented so I would no longer have to charge investors, so investors would finally have at least one source of truly independent research and analysis -- completely uncompensated -- and so the SEC would have a little trustworthy help "from the inside." These markets need it.
"Why did I write this morning?
"I was very bullish on XXXX, and it was my coverage, candidly, that was responsible for XXXX's move from three dimes to north of $4. I approached [management] a year-and-a-half ago with ideas regarding shareholder value creation. At the time, the program would have cost them nothing at all. But a year later, they'd still done nothing, and shares had deteriorated further. After being approached by a private company to act as its consultant, I decided to approach XXXX with the idea. Six months later, still nothing. I'm leaving a lot out, because my conversations with [management] are confidential, but this new evidence -- a lack of interest, a lack of willingness, a lack of discernment, of recognition of a company's raison d'etre -- compelled me to "set the record straight." This should not be interpreted as a desire to do damage to the company or to flex my muscle. Indeed, one of the reasons I exited my previous publisher in favor of my own banner was so I could implement measures to avoid moving stocks around, and my real hope is that this morning's letter to "the boys" wakes them up to do SOMETHING...But ultimately, this morning's communique was necessary not for you, but for me. I cannot claim to be a person of integrity and hide the truth from investors when that truth is negative.
"Why do I do what I do?
"Because it's a niche market. There are plenty of people taking positions in stocks and offering baseless opinions (bullish and bearish) and many doing so while wearing masks. There's only one of me: no position in companies I cover as an analyst, no compensation (from readers or companies or agents thereof), direct dialogue with management, critical/skeptical analysis (delivered with irreverence, but not a dram of fluff), real name. I fight with companies daily to try to compel them to adopt radical transparency so investors can make smarter decisions. Not one of you, with your tough talk behind cutesy stage names, can say the same thing."
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