Agoracom

I have to admit to quietly wondering why Congress was closed for the Jewish holiday after failing to pass a Bill that the country supposedly needed to stay alive.

If you were wondering and bewildered by the same question, take heart in the fact John Stewart was more pissed and bewildered than we were…and it is damn funny:

“Listen up Congress, get the fuck back to work!”

“For the Jewish holiday?  For god’s sake how many Jews are even in Congress?”

“Wall Street is open, I guarantee you they have more Jews on Wall Street than Congress !!”

“I’m here. The Daily Show is on and I guarantee you we have more Jews than Congress !!”

Priceless stuff while making a great point. Here’s the clip.

Regards,
George

For all the heat the SEC has taken lately, you have to give them full marks for cracking down on the micro-cap pump and dump schemes. Here is the latest:

Washington, D.C., Sept. 25, 2008 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based Telomolecular Corp. and two of its former executives for their roles in a stock scheme based on false claims to investors that the biotechnology start-up company was on the verge of financial and scientific success in developing anti-aging treatments and cancer cures. (FULL STORY)

SMALL-CAP AND MICRO-CAP CEO’S HAVE TO MAKE REALISTIC CLAIMS

The Telomolecular offense isn’t as far off the beaten path as you would think. We still continue to receive calls from companies that make some pretty outrageous claims. Yes, some are complete scams but some are from well-meaning CEO’s that have simply fallen too far in love with their company and waayyyy overestimate their capabilities.

If you fall into the latter, don’t think you’re too far off from getting yourself busted by the SEC. Having evil intentions isn’t a necessary pre-requisite to charges being laid by the SEC.

“Companies raising capital from investors need to provide realistic and
accurate information about their resources and prospects for future
success,” said Marc Fagel, Director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office.”

CONCLUSION

Keep it real. There is nothing wrong with being super enthusiastic about your product or service - but you have to separate that from your public communications and performance expectations. Google wasn’t built in a day, so neither will your company.

Regards,
George

My friend and colleague, Dominic Jones, publishes the best research and information about online investor relations practices through the IR Web Report. He has counseled some of the world’s biggest and best-known corporations across every sector and in more than a dozen different countries. As such, when he writes, I listen.

A couple of days ago he posted a must read article about the the single most important lesson we all can learn from the current crisis: Main Street matters.

Given the fact he wrote the article prior to voting and rejection on the bailout bill thanks to the people’s revolt, it’s safe to assume this important lesson has now graduated to a commandment.

Since I’ve already declared it a must read, I won’t ruin it by re-hashing it here - but I would like to give you a couple of his best quotes”

“Investor relations shouldn’t only be about hobnobbing with analysts
and portfolio managers, it must also support strategically important
retail investor communications.”

“Companies that don’t have dedicated IR website managers in-house can’t take advantage of even a fraction of the opportunities available to them to build and maintain relationships with their investors.”

Regards,
George

The Canadian Department of Justice has retained David Kent, a litigator and antitrust expert in private practice with Toronto-based McMillan LLP, to review the proposed partnership between Yahoo and Google. You can read the full article here.

Speaking on behalf of AGORACOM, our clients, their shareholders and the entire small-cap industry, we urge Mr. Kent and the CDJ to prevent the advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo, as it would significantly decrease competition within search engine marketing, leading to unnecessary higher prices.

Our position is widely supported including, for example, the World Federation of Advertisers that have expressed concerns that the deal will hand Google too much influence over the search-advertising market, which could result in higher prices and fewer options for advertisers.

In addition, leading tech blog - TechCrunch - recently published “Yahoo, We Can’t Afford A Monopoly Even If It Kills You”, which outlines in detail the significant monopoly creating risks of any such partnership.

We love Google.  We love Yahoo.  We don’t love Goohoo.

Regards,
George

Good morning to you all.  On September 17th I discussed the increasingly tight supply of gold that led Bloomberg to run a story about prices running to $950/oz. The story cited decreased production, increased demand and falling Central Bank sales in 2008.

With respect to the latter point, we heard from two Central Banks yesterday.Germany’s Bundesbank will hold on to the vast bulk of its gold reserves in the next 12 months, the central bank said on Monday.

First, Germany’s Bundesbank, the second-largest holder of gold behind the U.S. Federal Reserve, said it would not sell any more gold apart from 6.5 tonnes to the German finance ministry that was already agreed upon.

Second, the Swiss National Bank reported it concluded the sale of 250 tonnes of gold, announced in June 2007, and said it had no plans for any further gold sales.

SNB is now holding 1,040 tonnes and stated it planned no further reduction.

Regards,
George

TORONTO, September 29, 2008 – AGORACOM, North America’s largest Investor Relations Firm is proud to announce a series of upcoming poker networking events giving public companies the rare opportunity to present their company’s message to Bay Street’s top brokers, fund managers, analysts and institutions.

“Every other month AGORACOM hosts an all expenses paid “Bay Street Hold’em” Poker Tournament,” says George Tsiolis, President & Founder of AGORACOM,  “These events are one of the most sought after networking events on Bay Street and typically ‘sells out’ within two hours of announcing them!   All attendees are top brokers, analysts, and decision-makers on Bay Street, representing over 40 different institutions, who collectively control between $5 - $7 billion worth of assets.”

The Opportunity

At every poker event, AGORACOM gives one company the opportunity to be its Exclusive Sponsor.  The sponsor’s message is delivered directly to this captive audience of brokers throughout the entire evening.  As well, sponsors are given the opportunity to network with this influential Bay Street group.

View the video of one of our latest poker events on YouTube here:

The AGORACOM “Bay Street Hold’em” Poker Sponsorship Package

“I highly recommend AGORACOM’s ‘Bay Street Hold’em’ Poker tournament to any junior company looking for Bay Street branding. It is an incredible opportunity to present your company’s message to a captive audience and network with Bay Street’s top money managers on a personal level. Rarely can a junior company position themselves in such an atmosphere.  My company has sponsored this event twice and has plans to sponsor it again in the near future.” Mike Belantis, Timmins Gold

Participating as a sponsor is an opportunity for public companies to receive great marketing exposure in addition to gathering knowledge, and networking with key industry players.

AGORACOM BSH Sponsorship offers the following benefits:

• Your name added to the event title as the official event sponsor
• Acknowledgement of sponsorship during opening remarks
• Press release announcing and promoting sponsorship.
• Slide show with logo placement running during poker event.
• Table/booth for displaying marketing materials.
• Logo placement on customized poker felts.
• Logo placement and mention in 3 pre-promotional email invitations to over 200 top brokers and analysts.
• Logo placement and mention in post-event email blast thanking players for attending event.
• Logo placement and mention in post-event video, which will be posted on YouTube.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

$20,000 (Non-AGORACOM client price)

$13,500 (Special AGORACOM client price)

Currently AGORACOM is taking sponsorship applications for the following dates:

September 18th                RESERVED

Nov 2008                          Available for sponsorship

Jan 2009                           Available for sponsorship

March 2009                       RESERVED

May 2009                          Available for sponsorship

July 2009                           RESERVED

*Spaces are limited so we will be working on a “first come first serve” basis.

If any of these sponsorship opportunities interest you please contact paulk@agoracom.com.

About AGORACOM – Investor Relations Firm For Small-Cap Companies: AGORACOM Investor Relations is North America’s largest investor relations firm for small-cap companies. We have partnered with the world’s biggest Internet companies, including Globe Investor, Yahoo, AOL, Google and Blackberry to market our clients to a massive audience of new small-cap investors. We have served over 200 companies since 1997.

AGORACOM Investor Relations has displaced the telephone and e-mail as primary IR communications devices. Our IR HUB delivers two-way investor relations in near real-time that is 24/7/365 accessible to shareholders around the world and goes far beyond text by offering both audio and video communications.

AGORACOM is North America’s only small-cap community built to serve the needs of serious small-cap and micro-cap investors. No rumours, profanity, stock bashing or hyping. Our traffic ranking is above the top 1% of all websites around the world.

CONTACT INFORMATION

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Mitch Fanning

Director of Marketing / Communications

mitchf@agoracom.com

CORPORATE INQUIRIES

George Tsiolis, LL.B

President

AGORACOM

info@agoracom.com

Good morning to you all. AGORACOM is proud to announce that we will once again be sponsoring the Toronto Resource Investment Conference (AKA Toronto Cambridge Conference).  The conference is taking place this Saturday and Sunday, where you can find us in booth # 203.

Yes, in case you are wondering, we will once again be hosting the premier hospitality event - Bay Street Hold ‘Em At The CN Tower!  Look for the official announcement tomorrow but for those of you that need a refresher, take a look at the following:

• 2007 “Sold Out” Announcement
• 2007 YouTube Video

With gold making another move towards $1,000, the conference should be a great one. See you there!

Regards,
George

(Thanks to Rob Hyndman for finding this)

The Washington Post did some great (and fast) work today by geo-analyzing the votes on today’s Bailout Bill.  It can best be summarized as follows:

It’s no coincidence then that of the 205 Members who voted in support
of the bill today, there are only two — Reps. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) and
Jon Porter (R-Nev.) — who find themselves in difficult reelection races
this fall. The list of the 228 “nays” reads like a virtual target list for the
two parties.”

In other words, this bill was doomed from the beginning. It had nothing to do with “bi-partisan / let’s save the economy” patriotism.  Just a bunch of politicians looking out for their own paycheck before 300,000,000 others.

I had no problem with the outcome of the vote. Democracy rules. This wasn’t democracy.

p.s. A fantastic map here if you want to see how your state voted. Check out Florida, New York and Washington.

Regards,
George

Somebody at Marketwatch.com is either completely busted, or savvy enough to try and bring some levity to the day.  You decide after looking at the following:

If you’re trying to catch up on the day’s events, check out our Twitter entries today. More than headlines, you’ll enjoy the intricate coverage all in one page.

Regards,
George