RE:RE:RE:No news is good news idom......Not any fault of the company of course but there were many layers of issues here that were almost too comical to believe. The thing that stuck out to me was the official company statement as if this was some kind of legit offer from a legit group (at least that was my read of it).
In case you missed my prior post on this subject... there are not many times you can literally laugh out loud at matters involving stocks but as everyone was furiously trying to find out who Quest Ventures was, and James Beals, I came across the mention of Beal's "investment" in Red Peach Gifts. Like a 10 million "Seed" investment. Red Peach had a website with stuff for sale and a Facebook page..
On that Facebook page...
1- People were reporting they ordered items but never received them
2- The Customer service person responding named "Sarah" or "Sara" was using a photo of someone else on her own facebook page. She also showed a diamond ring picture of a ring on her finger announcing an engagement to "Luke Fillion" (ill get to him in a minute). The ring picture was taken from the internet and was used in marketing for a big diamond company.
3- The picture at the top of the Red Peach site was taken from Baby Dior
4- This Luke Fillion guy (not sure if someone by that name really exists) but the profile set up for him as a "Former Goldman Sachs guy" on an angel investor site uses a photo of a Singapore architect with a different name. It mentions his seed investment into redpeach.
5- The facebook page uses this made up Fillion guy and shows a company launch party. However it was not their launch party, they took pictures from Pure Leaf tea company launch party and somehow said it was their launch party.
6- Their own website had this crazy post regarding James Beals saying he stopped his seed investment into Red Peach due to "moral turpitude". If you read this stuff you really could not make it up it is so crazy.
In any case there is much more including copy and pasted releases from other company's with some words changed to make it look like them etc..
So many sites were not correct, people who may or may not exist using other's pictures etc.
So what happened? A series of people who ordered product called the anti-fraud center in Canada. I looked into it but as a non Canadian resident needed some kind of number or pin or something I remember. In any case paypal stopped letting them charge, and eventually presumably the credit card companies. The original site was taken down but a new one popped up and some other people got hoodwinked by sending email money transfers and not getting product.
The customer service rep has not been seen posting since i outted her fake engagement to a fake person using someone else's picture and fake wedding ring picture.
The only weird lead I had looking this all up is that the Fake angel profile for the fake CEO using a fake picture from someone else talking about a fake seed financing and fake experience... well it was "followed" by only one person. That person was supposedly in Italy with what looked like almost a clone set up of the Red peach site. It could be just coincidence, it could be because they had a similar business they stumbled across this profile and followed it, but it just seemed a bit funny to me.
So behind this "offer" was a helluva lot of crazy things, that is unless the real James Beals and his group was also victimized by whoever did the Red Peach stuff it was quite an act here.
A few possibilities- someone with a position in this stock was angry with the company for whatever reason. My guess is it sounds a lot like someone that might have once worked for someone and had a bunch of stock, maybe as payment for services or something. Usually retail investors would not take things this far. Or someone that feels wronged for some reason, maybe was doing tech work or developed something then was let go. Just guessing really.
They would have to 1- know the company 2- have some experience with wire services and corporate communications and how they would affect a stock. 3- presumably own stock in the company , so probably a Canadian resident or knew someone who was etc.
Oh and the kicker to this whole thing? The Quest Ventures release was copied almost word for word from the buyout offer for Angies List made a week earlier by IAC.
Compare this:
SLYCE A private Slyce Inc. (PrivateCo) would have the ability to deploy technological innovations across an enormous footprint, creating an unmatched ability to deliver the best experience to the largest number of consumers and service providers alike. We are confident that the operating outlook for Slyce Inc. in a private company scenario would be substantially improved over its current prospects.
We believe the work required to finalize a mutually agreeable transaction would be quick, and we can manage it efficiently so as not to disrupt the Slyce, Inc. day-to-day operations. The definitive terms of our proposal could be agreed in the course of a week and completed within a few months, as promptly as the regulatory processes permit. Our proposal is not conditioned on the receipt of financing.
Our strong preference would have been to work with you on a confidential and cooperative basis. However, we have been unable to develop any meaningful dialogue with you for many days now and were disappointed by your unwillingness to open discussions with us following our many attempts to contact you. Furthermore, in light of the decrease in the Slyce, Inc. share price during the days that followed our November 17 letter to the Board expressing an interest in discussions, and further decreases following our November 18 attempts to contact you with an acquisition proposal, we determined it was advisable to publicly release the text of this letter concurrent with its delivery to the Board to ensure that your stockholders are fully apprised of the significant value afforded by our proposed transaction.
This letter does not represent or create any legally binding or enforceable obligations. No such obligations will be imposed on any party unless and until a definitive agreement is executed.
I assure you that this transaction has the highest priority for Quest Ventures. We look forward to working towards a transaction that creates value for all of our stockholders and, as we have indicated previously, we are prepared to meet with you immediately to discuss the same.
Sincerely,
James Beals
To this released a week earier
ANGIES LIST
A combined HomeAdvisor-Angie's List would have unparalleled consumer reach and an incomparable network of paid service professionals. It would have the ability to deploy technological innovations across an enormous footprint, creating an unmatched ability to deliver the best experience to the largest number of consumers and service providers alike. We are confident that the operating outlook for Angie's List in a combination scenario would be substantially improved over its standalone prospects.
We believe the work required to finalize a mutually agreeable transaction would be quick, and we can manage it efficiently so as not to disrupt the Angie's List day-to-day operations. The definitive terms of our proposal could be agreed in the course of a week and completed within a few months, as promptly as the regulatory processes permit. Our proposal is not conditioned on the receipt of financing.
Our strong preference would have been to work with you on a confidential and cooperative basis. However, we have been unable to develop any meaningful dialogue with you for many months now and were disappointed by your unwillingness to continue discussions with us following our meeting. Further, in light of the increase in the Angie's List share price during the days that followed our October 5 letter to the Board expressing an interest in discussions, and further increases following our October 23 meeting and acquisition proposal, we determined it was advisable to publicly release the text of this letter concurrent with its delivery to the Board to ensure that your stockholders are fully apprised of the significant value afforded by our proposed transaction.
This letter does not represent or create any legally binding or enforceable obligations. No such obligations will be imposed on any party unless and until a definitive agreement is executed.
I assure you that this transaction has the highest priority for IAC. We look forward to working towards a transaction that creates value for all of our stockholders and, as we have indicated previously, we are prepared to meet with you immediately to discuss the same.
Sincerely,
Joey Levin
Chief Executive Officer
About IAC/InterActiveCorp