Let me start by saying that I went to this conference with fear and trepidation as my 2 largest positions were in the crapper down in excess of 35% over the last 30 days, and I was scared.
The reasons why EGMI is down is because of a series of faux pas that never should have occurred. PART 1.....
FIRST THE BAD...........................
1. Lord Steinberg dies suddenly in early November and fear of his large block of stock, which is NOT being sold nor will it in my opinion anytime soon.He was a truly major loss.
2. The new CFO unexpectedly resigns from his post and the board with incomplete explanations. 8k is filed and Oh shit! is heard everywhere. He is a wealthy man and the old/current CFO had not renewed their D&O insurance, and the new CFO's attorneys told him his ass was on the line with his personal fortune, and he therefore resigned, with the understanding I am told that he will be back on board by Dec 10 or not, and if not there is a very good replacement. The or not is my personal opinion, and I personally feel he okey doked us. EOM
3. 10Q posted at very last minute scaring people. Proxy material for the Annual General meeting is not out, and God only knows when, again raising questions about incompetence. Why is everything AFU internally?
4. The proxy will contain very important info on our company, but it ain't out and we have to wait another month to hear this good news.
5. They restate 3rd quarter earnings by including the NOL for "conservative accounting reason" I still do not understand this and still have not gotten a answer this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. But it is MEANINGLESS..........just dumb.
6. Late on some business ventures that we all hoped would be announced in a timely fashion which shareholders always want, but in the real world many times are unrealistic.
PART 2........
NOW THE GOOD/GREAT/FANTASTIC!!!!!!
In my 45 years of investing I have made many many mistakes, and I have promised myself NEVER again to rationalize my position or fall so much in love I overlook the reasons I bought any stock. On this trip if I did not come away feeling better I was going to liquidate my holding. I am too old to make up big losses anymore.
I believe I am the 2nd largest individual shareholder after the Lord Steinberg Estate, and it represents a large chunk of my net worth so I felt what all of you are feeling only worse.
On Wednesday night before the conference I had the amazing opportunity and one of the most important investment meetings I have ever attended which was all very impromtu after a long day. I was invited to join the entire NEW and OLD sales team and the IR genius, who I happen to think is the female genius in my industry for dinner. There was a major surprise awaiting me at the restaurant which I will get to in a minute.
Attendees:
Kevin Donovan CO/CHB and CEO and the major reason I am in this story to begin with.
Anna Houssels working 24/7 with Kevin on sales, key relationships in the gaming industry. Look at Friday's news
Yvonne Zappula Head of PR/IR a huge asset for EGMI and its shareholders.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!
4 new people who are dynamite to help roll out everything, open doors, build relationships, pound on doors, amazing resume's and all on consulting basis, paid by commissions so large carrots if they perform, if they don't no harm no foul.
I am not easily impressed by sales people, but these people are amazing, two of them had me checking for my wallet, because they could have sold me swamp land. Their relationships, contacts, etc I will not comment on for a number of reasons, but trust me these 4 people are the real deal. The other two are females and they dazzled me with their social media,marketing, and how well plugged in they are to where they can generate amazing results for us shareholders. The fact that they are stunning did not hurt either, but this is about money not looks, and these ladies are a terrific addition to the team.
These four new people are a further testimony to the leadership that Kevin has brought, and I am one of Kevin's largest critics for "where is the beef" right now, but he is doing stuff which we will all get very very rich from and when you see the talent he keeps attracting it is not rocket science to see that this is going to be a amazing stock.
I have left out names as I am not sure I should be giving their names out pure and simple. Trust me they are accretive.
The shock of the evening I was seated between the CEO/FOUNDER of POKEN Stephan Detriou, and the CHB Patrick Liotard_Vogt. I am never at a loss for words, but this will go down as a night to be remembered. These guys are incredible, and before going forward, when I first heard of POKEN I said this is the home run of all creation as a consumer product, and I personally could sell millions of these but meeting the guys that created it and made it happen, and we are in business with them this was amazing. We POKENED they each told me where POKEN was going now, and the future.
To have these guys as part of us or us as part of them as business partners is incredible. I believe, POKEN is the Pet Rock, Hula Hoop, Pokemon, WII,Facebook,My Space of the next decade. This will become one of the biggest consumer products in history and down the road the science will blow you away, this POKEN critter will take us places no one ever dreamt of when they made an investment in EGMI.
I don't giggle often but seeing the product and the faces, and hearing stories on where we are going, your mind starts to wander on the applications of POKEN. Everyone says "well if I have one and you don't who cares?" Every kid in the country will have one, every college student, every lady going into a bar, every guy doing the same, every military person, every convention goer,businesses as promotional aids, etc,etc,etc sit down at a table with a yellow pad and play game on where you think you could see it used, you run out of paper before you run out of ideas.
I do not know the economics of our announced deal with them, but we will make a fortune by being in business with them, and these guys you could take anywhere in the world and will sell this idea.
Kevin and his co CHB are off to China next week to cement a lot more our deal there, Bally's was announced on Friday and on Thursday at their presentation he went through his powerpoint with a whole lot of very big names that we are somewhere in the middle, end or near the end of negotiations with.
I spoke to 4 portfolio managers that had 1 on 1"s with Kevin and Anna on Thursday before and after his presentation. Each of the 4 had a different aspect of the business they loved, and all said they are buyers, one guy started buying 250k right after the presentation as I did. I bought a lot.
I bought this idea before I ever heard POKEN. Now this is a no brainer. This is my second largest positions in terms of $$ biggest in terms of shares. I do not want to file again but this position will allow me to POKEN all over the world for a very long time.
Before Poken I thought this could be a teen ager, now I think in 3 years it will be a adult, and adults are over 21.