The Bear Cave #79
New Activist Reports, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week
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New Activist Reports
Wolfpack Research published on SGOCO Group (NASDAQ: SGOC — $577 million), a Hong Kong lending and virtual reality conglomerate. Wolfpack wrote,
“In December 2020, three of SGOCO’s key people and largest shareholders were arrested by the Hong Kong Police and were named as the ‘masterminds’ in a HK$475 million (approximately US$61 million) international fund fraud scheme involving SGOCO.”
Wolfpack alleged that SGOCO would steal money from an investment fund and then transfer the money to company executives through spurious related-party acquisitions. Wolfpack also highlighted that the company had $4 million in revenue and $67 million in losses in 2020.
Western Edge published on Netlist (OTC: NLST — $1.63 billion), a semiconductor producer and reseller. Netlist shares are up ~1,000% this year on hopes that the company will get a large patent infringement settlement from Google after over 10 years of litigation. Western Edge highlighted that last month the company’s CFO sold over $3 million of stock and the CEO sold over $1 million of stock. In addition, Western Edge highlighted the company’s financial ties to Lincoln Park Capital, a “vulture financer” whose involvement sometimes precedes significant declines.
Jehoshaphat Research published a Twitter update on View Inc (NASDAQ: VIEW — $1.01 billion), a smart glass company that went public through a SPAC earlier this year.
Recent Resignations and Departures
Notable executive departures disclosed in the last week include:
Chief Accounting Officer of Option Care Health (NASDAQ: OPCH — $4.26 billion) “decided to retire” after eighteen months on the job. The company has had five different CFOs and three different CEOs in the last ten years.
Two SPAC sponsor board members of Porch Group (NASDAQ: PRCH — $1.47 billion) resigned after eight months “after helping guide Porch through a successful transition into the public markets.”
Chief Product Officer of Avaya Holdings (NYSE: AVYA — $1.69 billion) resigned after less than two years on the job.
Chief Risk Officer of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ: BSRR — $372 million) “agreed to the termination of his employment” after two and a half years on the job.
Chief Accounting Officer of McKesson (NYSE: MCK — $31.0 billion) resigned after three years “to pursue another employment opportunity.” The company has had four different CFOs in the last ten years.
COO of Gatos Silver (NYSE: GATO — $864 million) resigned after ten months. The company went public in October 2020.
COO of Mission Produce (NASDAQ: AVO — $1.40 billion) resigned after one and a half years. Mission Produce also went public in October 2020.
Chief Product Officer of LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE — $2.17 billion) resigned after three years to “take a position with another employer.” The company has also had five different CFOs in the last ten years.
Data for this section is provided by InsiderScore.com
What to Read
“An Entrepreneur’s Perspective – Investing in the Battlefield of the Future” (Raging Ventures)
“John Malone, aka the ‘Cable Cowboy’, is one of the greatest capital allocators and strategic thinkers of this era (he is also America’s largest private landowner!).”
Brunello Cucinelli Interview (OM)
“He gives 20 percent of his company’s profits to his charitable foundation in the name of “human dignity” and pays his workers wages that are 20 percent higher than the industry standard, mostly because it allows his company to encourage and continue the Italian craftsman traditions.”
Tweets of the Week
Until next week,
The Bear Cave