RE:RE:RE:RE:FOR SALE QUARTERHILLPeople pushing for the company to be sold now are, I would argue, allowing their thinking to be driven too much by the events of the past. I'm sorry for anyone who bought WiLAN 15 or 20 years ago and made nothing--or even lost money.
But the fact is that the Quarterhill of today is a very different entity than the WiLAN of 2000, or 2005, or 2011, or even 2017. It is also operating in a rather different world--in terms of IP (somewhat) and ITS (totally).
Part of the reason it is different is because it has different people at the top. You could just as easily get mad at the company for not having hired Paul Hill in 2004. He was out there somewhere and they could have offered him the CEO position. "You fools!! Why didn't you hire Paul Hill in 2004??"
For whatever reason, didn't happen. Water under the bridge.
Now if you're really into allocating blame for past results I suppose you could try to raise questions about John Gillberry. I think he joined in 2006. But even then, unless you have reason to think he's an idiot--and I happen to think he's not an idiot--you could just as easily argue that it's better to have someone at the top who has a long experience with the company, who's seen the missteps of the past and is thereby now less likely to repeat them.
It's useful, I think, to harken back to how Apple Computer was viewed 15 or so years ago. Apple, of course, had been super hot in the 1980s. But around, say, 2003-07 it was seen as kind of a dog. The really hot name was Dell. Apple was this old thing that sold computers maybe to science geeks but not to business buyers because it had its own operating system that was weird and not Windows. And I suspect there were shareholders who wanted to see Apple put up for sale.
How perceptions can change, eh?
To my mind Quarterhill has all the pieces in place that I would look for in seeking a stock that will ultimately be accepted by institutional investors as something that should be owned long term. Terrific market to be in. Modest price. Super solid balance sheet. Good management.
On that last one I admit that I might be wrong. Maybe Paul is developing a problem with alcohol? Maybe he's just not all that smart and he's been fooling people all these years? I guess my only answer is--I don't think so.
Regardless, what I'm not going to do is reason to the effect that because WiLAN may have had a hard time of it 10 or 15 years ago I should therefore give up on it now.
I care about 2018. But as long as I can be convinced that 2018 is truly behind us--and I think it is--I care a lot more about 2024.