Agoracom

Eric Jackson spoke out via audio address this morning about his views on the Yahoo board, the deal with Carl Icahn and why many members of the Yahoo board need to be voted out at the upcoming AGM. This is a short but compelling statement that all Yahoo shareholders should listen to.

Dr. Jackson has asked for all YHOO shareholders to chime in on the Yahoo Plan B Community to have their voices hears and make their votes count.

Regards,
George

TORONTO/NAPLES, July 21, 2008 - Eric Jackson, Founder of Ironfire Capital and activist investor, is pleased to announce the launch of a Yahoo! shareholder community for the purposes of amalgamating and communicating with all current and future pledged Yahoo! shareholders in one location at http://www.agoracom.com/ir/YHOO . This “Investor Controlled Community” will provide for high-quality discussion and exchange of ideas, while eliminating irrelevant and disruptive noise.

IMPORTANT FOR YAHOO! SHAREHOLDERS TO SHARE IDEAS

With less than 2 weeks left until the August 1^st Yahoo! Annual Meeting, shareholders will be voting on the future of Yahoo! Important discussion will include choosing between the slate of investors put forth by both Yahoo! and Carl Icahn, or a hybrid. In addition, are shareholders best served by a full acquisition by Microsoft, or a sale of search only?

Commenting on the launch of this community, Eric Jackson stated “When I first created a “Plan B” for Yahoo!, I asked for fellow shareholders to offer their input and help edit our “Plan B” and, through “pledging” of shares to our group, providing us with the ability to speak directly to Yahoo! and the media with one collective voice. I never imagined we would pull together a group with 150 members and a collective 3.2mm Yahoo! shares. We’ve done that, but I believe we’re still scratching the surface of what Activism 2.0 could truly accomplish, in terms of making our voices heard.”

Jackson went on to say “I would like there to be more of a collective dialog between those within our group and those outside it. I believe the community is smarter than any one person. However, it is difficult to build a community through blog comments, while the amount of spam and noise on Yahoo! Finance message boards make them impractical to exchange ideas. Through AGORACOM, I believe we now have the platform to build a great community of concerned shareholders. This new Yahoo! HUB community will help us all be smarter and exchange ideas that can help shape the future of Yahoo! I encourage you to use it.”

The community is being hosted on AGORACOM, a second generation financial discussion community that has eliminated epidemic levels of spam, profanity and misinformation via a unique reputation system that provides highly-ranked members with the ability to enforce the community’s 6 Rules of Use by deleting offending posts and terminating offending members.

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July 21, 2008

Press Release

SOURCE: AGORACOM.com and Ironfire Capital

Activist Investor Eric Jackson Recommends Mixed Yahoo!/Icahn Board in Upcoming Yahoo! Proxy Vote

TORONTO/NAPLES, July 21, 2008 - Activist investor Eric Jackson, founder of activist hedge fund Ironfire Capital, announced his recommendation that Yahoo! shareholders supporting his “Yahoo Plan B” group elect a mixed Yahoo/Icahn board at the upcoming Yahoo! Annual Meeting on August 1st.

Dr. Jackson is speaking on behalf of the “Yahoo Plan B” group, comprised of 150 members that own 3.2 million shares in Yahoo! worth over $70 million (http://www.youchoose.net/yahoo ). The “Plan B” group is the first group of shareholders assembled entirely via the Internet with the purpose of positively impacting a company’s governance and performance in a similar fashion to a large activist hedge fund.

Last year, Jackson used blog posts, YouTube videos, and other social media to rally support and positively effect change at Yahoo! His group created a “Plan B” for how Yahoo! should be run after finalizing it through a wiki (http://shareowneractivism.wikia.com/wiki/Yahoo ). The group also encouraged other shareholders to “withhold” their votes for key directors at the Yahoo! June 2007 Annual Meeting to protest the poor performance of the company combined with high executive compensation. At last year’s annual meeting, Yahoo! shareholders voted 33% against the re-election of 3 Yahoo! directors. Six days after the vote, former Chairman and CEO Terry Semel resigned.

Jackson will be announcing more details of his recommendations for how the “Yahoo! Plan B” group members should vote at this year’s Yahoo! meeting later today with the launch of a Yahoo! shareholder community at http://www.agoracom.com/ir/YHOO . Fellow shareholders can express their perspectives on how best to vote in the upcoming proxy contest at this HUB.

“While I have personally supported Carl Icahn’s efforts since he announced he was running his slate to counter the Yahoo! board’s poor oversight of the company over the last 4 years, it’s become clear over the last two weeks that many shareholders are reluctant to support the entire list of Icahn nominees. Many were concerned about a lack of an articulated operational plan for how to best run Yahoo! assuming no deal with Microsoft occurs imminently. There were also concerns about continuity with replacing the entire board. We also do not want to see Yahoo!’s poison pill-like severance package triggered by the election of 5 or more of Icahn’s nominees. As such, we are recommending that our group members vote for a mixed board with 5 re-elected Yahoo directors and 4 new directors from Icahn’s slate. This will maximize the change so desperately needed to Yahoo!’s board without the drawbacks mentioned above.

“We believe Microsoft needs Yahoo! to reinvigorate its Online Services Division and protect its Desktop software business from future threats, as their quarterly results from last week demonstrate. There is a perfect fit here for Microsoft. We are confident this new hybrid Yahoo! board can effectively conclude a deal with them as representatives of the shareholders.

“This recommendation should in no way be interpreted as satisfaction with the current Yahoo! board. Yahoo! has been in decline for 4 years now, while this board has sat back and watched - only showing great involvement when taking time to approve extravagant pay packages or furiously writing tit-for-tat letters in the past 2 months. They sat back for 5 weeks and did not engage with Microsoft after the February 1^st buyout offer at a 62% premium; a move that seems very unwise in retrospect.

VOTING RECOMMENDATIONS - YAHOO NOMINEES

Dr. Jackson is recommending the re-election of the following current Yahoo board members:

- Vyomesh Joshi
- Robert Kotick
- Maggie Wilderotter
- Gary Wilson
- Jerry Yang

Jackson is recommending that members mark their Yahoo proxies with an “X” next to the option “Withhold authority to vote for any individual nominee(s) below” and then write in the numbers: 1, 2, 3, and 5. Those numbers correspond with voting against Messrs. Roy Bostock, Ronald Burke, Eric Hippeau, and Arthur Kern.

“We hold these 4 directors most responsible for the breakdown in talks with Microsoft and past lavish executive compensation” stated Jackson. “It’s time for some new blood.”

VOTING RECOMMENDATIONS - ICAHN NOMINEES
Dr. Jackson is recommending the election of the following Icahn nominees:
- Adam Dell
- John Chapple
- Lucian Bebchuk
- Edward Meyer

Dr. Jackson concluded by stating “Yahoo’s board has skilfully turned this proxy contest into a debate about Carl Icahn’s ability to run the company, which we believe is a smoke-screen to distract shareholder attention from their abysmal track record overseeing this company. A leopard doesn’t change his spots. Therefore, we feel strongly that new perspectives need to be introduced to this board to ensure future accountability to Yahoo! shareholders. We urge our “Yahoo Plan B” supporters to vote for this mixed board to accomplish that goal.”

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[NOTE - Though Some Data Is Specific To The Resources Industry, online research and usage data is applicable to all small-cap companies]

Throughout the first half of 2008, AGORACOM surveyed over 850 small-cap retail investors at each of the following 4 major resources conferences:

• Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC)
• Cambridge Conference Vancouver (January)
• Cambridge Conference Vancouver (June)
• Cambridge Conference Calgary

The purpose of the survey was to gain further insight into the online investing, research and community habits of small-cap and micro-cap investors. The surveys were conducted offline by design to avoid skewing of the results.

This survey represents a continuing series of surveys from each of these events since January of 2007. The results from each individual conference are posted on the AGORACOM blog within 30 days. In addition, the consolidated survey results are posted to our blog in early July. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, the results of these surveys are invaluable to CEO’s and investor relations departments of small-cap and micro-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

This is especially true for companies headed by older, less agile management teams that continue to overemphasize the value of traditional investor relations and under estimate the importance of online investor relations. Investors of such companies should also take note of these results and relay them to management.

AGORACOM has always understood the power and cost-efficiencies of search engine marketing, community building and multi-media communications. However, in order to go beyond theory and bias, we had to objectively prove it via empirical evidence.

SURVEY RESULTS

Upon reviewing the results and comparing them to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion are heavily utilized by small-cap investors and dramatically increasing. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

With approximately 850 investors surveyed, we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to small-cap and micro-cap companies. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following some of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

HIGHLIGHTS

• 81% of Investors Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
• 48.4% of Investors were most Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
• 73% of Investors Conduct the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
• 48% of Investors Conduct All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 48% of all investors.

• 60% of Investors Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research.

• AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

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AGORACOM is pleased to once again provide the results of our small-cap retail investor survey from the Vancouver Cambridge Conference held on June 15-16, 2008.

The results of this survey are invaluable to small-cap metals and mining companies across North America.

Given the speed at which the internet is moving and impacting investor relations, one of the most important things we continue to accomplish at the conference is surveying investors in order to better understand their online habits and preferences.

In comparing these results to 2007, we can unequivocally conclude that online research, collaboration and discussion have increased dramatically. Frankly, the results were more dramatic than even we imagined and clearly point to the overwhelming need for an online IR strategy that goes beyond your website.

AGORACOM Surveys Over 1,000 Investors In 2008

In addition to both Vancouver Cambridge Conferences, AGORACOM also surveys investors across the country at different events including PDAC in Toronto and the Calgary Cambridge Conference.

Response to the surveys has been overwhelmingly positive from executives that have found the information to be incredibly helpful.

We post the results from each individual conference within 30 days on the AGORACOM blog. In addition, we post the consolidated survey results every summer. Both the individual and consolidated survey results can be found on the AGORACOM blog for you to review.

AGORACOM SURVEY RESULTS - 2008 VANCOUVER CAMBRIDGE CONFERENCE

With approximately 100 investors surveyed at the Vancouver Cambridge Conference (June conference), we were able to extract some extremely valuable information that will be of great importance to all of us. The information will have different implications for each one of you, depending on your primary metal/mineral, market capitalization and online strategy. As such, though I’ve provided some tertiary comments following each of the results below, the final analysis will be your own. To this end, we’re happy to provide you with the following results:

Highlights

• 86% of Investors Surveyed Prefer Small-Cap Resource Companies over Large-Cap.
• 79.5% of Investors Surveyed Do the Majority of their Research (75%+) into New Stocks Online. This is a dramatic 18.65% increase over 67% of respondents in 2007 and serves as proof positive that an online investor relations program is critical if you want to reach new investors.
• 55.9% of Investors Surveyed Do All of their Research (95%+) into New Stocks Online. No online IR program means you immediately miss out on 56% of all investors.

• 62.4% of Investors Surveyed Use Discussion Forums For Information and/or Research. This represents a 14.8% increase over 54.4% of respondents in 2007 and further supports our contention that you need to take control of your message online, or risk having it taken from you by potentially unscrupulous investors.

• Almost Half the Investors Surveyed (48%) were Bullish on Gold compared to other minerals and metals.
• AGORACOM brand recognition amongst retail investors has risen by 360% over the same period last year. With 95% of our market budget allocated online, we are an actual case study about the power of online marketing to small-cap investors.

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Good morning to you all. As many of you know, AGORACOM has been an exclusive provider of small-cap content to AOL Finance Canada since 2003. However, until recently, we’ve only resided behind the “AOL Wall” serving AOL paying members.

Now that AOL has taken down the wall and moved to its free model, our content is fully available to all AOL members and AOL has seen it fit to reward us with front page placement.

This is great news for AGORACOM but even better news for both our clients and the entire small-cap industry. Our clients will have the benefit of reaching a far larger audience when they release important news, while the entire small-cap space benefits from significantly greater visibility.

I have to add that I’m impressed with the Web 2.0 direction in which AOL Finance is moving, a dramatic improvement over their previous offering.

The re-design is paying off in a big way. In the U.S., AOL Finance has now surpassed both Yahoo and MSN in terms of both unique visitors and page views. The Canadian side hasn’t implemented all of the new tools from the U.S. side but it should only be a matter of time.

In the meantime, if Marty Moe is reading this, we’re ready to become a small-cap partner on the U.S. side when you are!

Regards,
George

If you need more evidence for the fact that you need a CEO / IR Blog, then look no further than the company whose products you might be using to read this very blog post - Dell.

According to IR Web Report, Dell launched DellShares about 9 months ago for the purposes of educating investors about the company. In fact, the tag line on the front page reads ” information and insight for the investor community”.

TELL YOUR LAWYERS TO RELAX AND ENTER THE 21ST CENTURY

This should also serve to quell the concerns of trigger happy lawyers that are quick to shoot down new communications tools such as blogs, rather than learning to work with them.

Remember - forums, blogs, podcasts, etc. are nothing more than new mediums for communicating with shareholders and potential shareholders. As long as you stick to the rules of full disclosure, they should not be feared any more than fax machines, e-mail and websites when they were first introduced.

If Dell and their multi-million IR budget feels that Web 2.0 tools are valuable IR tools for reaching retail investors, what do you think you should be doing? Calling AGORACOM hopefully

Regards,
George

IR Web Report posted a story titled “SEC seeks to ‘blow up’ forms-based system”, the 75-year old system in which pubco’s, brokers, funds, etc. file disclosures via specific forms. That’s right, you may soon be saying good-bye to 8K’s, 10K’s, 15 2C-11’s and other such forms. According to an SEC press release on the matter, a team has been put together to re-think reporting from scratch, free of any attachment to current forms. To this end, SEC Chairman Chris Cox stated as follows:

“To encourage a fundamental rethinking, the project won’t proceed from the premises of the current reporting system. It will start from scratch, from the ground up, freed from any conventions”

TIME LINE

As far as a time line goes, the press release stated the following:

“The first phase of the study will be completed by the end of 2008, when a follow-on advisory committee will be appointed to consider the questions in more detailed fashion through a public and consultative process.”

That is fast. In my opinion, that is too fast for anybody to tear up an existing system of any kind and develop a new one based on out of the box thinking. Nonetheless, if they can pull it off, all the power to them…though implementation is an entirely different matter.

NEW DISCLOSURE SYSTEM WILL BE BASED ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES

What I really like about the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative is the fact that it will be incorporating new technologies for the purpose of providing investors with both an easier and simpler system:

“On the 75th anniversary of the SEC, with so much new technology available to improve the quality of information for investors as well as the way investors acquire it, we’re initiating a broad, introspective look at our business model,” said Chairman Cox. … “We’ll be examining how to improve the way disclosure works, including tapping the full potential of today’s technology…That could mean fewer confusing forms, and more useful information at investors’ fingertips in a form they can really use.”

According to IR Web Report, the eventual new system will probably be based on “eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), which breaks down traditional document-based disclosures into individually tagged data elements that can be read and recompiled by software according to an investor’s preferred way of viewing the information.”

If you don’t get that, don’t worry. We’re going to provide XBRL info in a separate post. In the meantime, here is a powerful but layman’s description from Edgar-Online:

XBRL automates financial analysis, which is an historic accomplishment. Computers can intelligently “read” an XBRL report to select specific data, pull it into documents and spreadsheets, analyze it, exchange it with other computers, and present it in a variety of formats. This can all take place in real time, allowing users to instantly compare hundreds of companies, industry sectors, topics, and issues, with automatic updates.

Exciting stuff for good emerging companies - and scary for small-cap / micro-cap companies that are nothing more than empty pump-n-dump schemes that hide behind convoluted filings.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on this initiative.

Regards,
George

Good afternoon to you all. Back on February 1st, we announced that our US Investor Relations programs would now include the ability to reach investors via Bloomberg Television and CNBC TV. These incredible tools were made available thanks to our powerful partners at Google, who are now handling offline ad space for the likes of (TV) Bloomberg, CNBC (Newspapers) New York Times (Radio) Clear Channel.

To this end, I’m proud to announce that our first Bloomberg Television began running in mid-June on behalf of our client Futuremedia. About 125,000 people have watched the ad so far and volume on FMDAY is much higher than normal.

Anecdotally, a partner from Washington called to advise they were watch Bloomberg the other day and nearly jumped out of their chair when I popped up on the screen. We’ve uploaded the commercial to YouTube for all to see. The quality isn’t as crisp as the actual playing version but you’ll get the idea.

Suffice it to say that we are really excited about this initiative and expect to be launching a few more campaigns in the coming weeks, including our very own AGORACOM ad. As always, we put our money where our mouth is by using the exact same tools we ask our clients to use.

Regards,
George

Good morning to you all. Last week, I posted my thoughts on the relevancy of small-cap investor conferences and asked for your thoughts on the matter via our simple, 4-question survey.

I’m happy to report that nearly 200 people took the time to participate in the survey (thank-you) and the detailed responses and results can now be viewed here:

For those of you that simply want the highlights, the results were as follows:

• 60% do not find conferences valuable and get everything they need from the web.
• Of those 60%, 24% responded they would not take time away from work or family as a reason.
• Of the 40% that do attend, 70% listed “meeting with company principals” as the #1 reason.
• Only 11.5% of you believe that small-cap conferences will vanish but 52% believe there will be fewer (but better) conferences.

Interesting stuff. In summary, it looks like the web takes care of all investor information needs but still can not replace personal interaction. I wonder if increased use of video (conference calls, presentations, etc.) would further erode the raison d’etre of small-cap conferences.

Thanks again to everyone that participated in the survey. Much appreciated and I hope you found the results to be equally valuable.

Regards,
George