ediron2's Journal: SCO shortselling

I say we need a Journal Topic of "SCO vs. Everyone Sane", Taco!

By now, everyone is familiar with the umbrella corp that seems to have created shares in SCO, used them to purchase another Web Development (?) firm, then sell them off. Classic pump & dump methodology, eh?

Additionally, July 24 saw a huge number of insider trades. Info from SCO seems freshest (anyone know anything better?)

http://ir.sco.com

Here's what they seem to summarize to:

• Robert K. Bench, CFO, had 232593 shares on 7/8/03, sold down to 228043.
• BROUGHTON REGINALD CHARLES, Sr VP Int'l Sales, 7/8/2003 had 151210, sold down to 150000. That's 5000 shares, or $55k at 10.9.
• Jeff F. Hunsaker, VP Worldwide Marketing, had 30294 shares 7/9, sold down to 25494.
• Kimberly Steele does the signing.
• Mike Olson, VP Finance, had 65730 shares 7/11, sold down to 58830 shares.
• WILSON MICHAEL SEAN, Sr VP Corp Dev, exercised options on 6000 shares (strike of $0.66!), then sold them instantly, earning him the badge for being a VP smart enough to have ZERO risk when this ponzi scheme crashes.
• Woo-Woo! Wilson again on the 15th, same numbers LITERALLY THE NEXT DAY. 6000 exercised at 66 cents, sold at over $10. Net another 60 grand. Not a bad weekend, Wilson!
• Hunsaker again, on 7/9, selling 5000 at $11.x Same day, different filing. Turns out I misread the filings so most of those initial share counts are actually lower than I reported. I'll fix 'em tomorrow.
• Raimondi, Thomas P, a Director, Exercised 10k shares at $6.13. Who wants to bet he sold 'em by month's end!?
• Cakebread, Stephen, a Director, Exercised 10k at $4.75. Place yer bets!
• Iaccobucci, Edward E, a Director, on 5/16, exercising 10k at $4.75.
• Duff Thompson (not sure what order that name goes), exercising 10k shares at $4.75 on 5/16. Kimberly Steele still signatory.
• Yarro, Ralph, Director, on 5/16, exercising 10k option shares at $4.75.
• Mott, Darcy G, Director, on 5/16, exercising 10k shares at $4.75... getting bored here...
• Reggie's back, selling 15000 shares on 7/22, at $13 or so. Leaves him with 130,000 shares that can zero out on him. Let's all join hands and pray, my fellow slashdotters!
• Hunsaker, 7/23, 5000 shares sold at $13.x, leaves him with 20,494 shares.

... hmm... Kevin Skousen, a SCO Director, didn't actually strike his options, he just got granted 45000 shares at 10 bucks, exercisable immediately. Man, if that isn't a submarine option price just begging to happen. In my last /. comment, I said he'd exercised 'em. My bad.

Hell, that's just the headlines on page 1. We'll have to go back to the beginning of this timeline and do some cruel/ugly number crunching, find indications of inter-corporate shell gaming, etc. For now, I'm off to read financial pages and find me a comfortable way to short (or Put-Option) these guys. Unlike the time I bought 5 microsoft shares just so I could enjoy their fate either way, win or lose, I'll only be happy when SCOX returns to the penny-stock pages it so recently occupied.

If anyone wants to help, feel free to continue reading backwards thru SCO's SEC Filings page and append details. Commentary is ok, but we'll quickly want to put this into spreadsheets and start drawing pretty pictures (like time-vs-profit, buying/selling plans-vs-lawsuit (an insider act, hopefully), and anything else that makes a nice case to investors that these guys really know which way the legal course will flow and the market's gonna run. The greatest enemy of evil is always the widespread dissemination of information.

--advaitavedanta

Man, would I love to help

[MarkusQ]

I'd love to help, but 1) I'm way behind on a project at work and 2) I have a toddler. (So, you might ask, what am I doing reading /.?) Hmm. I'll get back to you.

-- MarkusQ