Agoracom Blog Home

Archive for the ‘Online Investor Relations’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Aurelian Shareholder Revolt Hits 580,000 Page Views, Expands To YouTube

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:01 AM on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

The Web 2.0 Aurelian Resources shareholder revolt against a “friendly” takeover bid by Kinross Gold has generated more than 580,000 page views over the past 30 days on the company’s HUB on AGORACOM.

Shareholders, led by these 6 HUB Leaders, have used the HUB to amalgamate, discuss and execute a strategy to vote down the bid, including submitting thousands of e-mail messages, telephone calls and letters to management, directors, media, analysts, bloggers, securities regulators and even other potential suitors.

The campaign has been a massive success and perhaps the best example of Web 2.0 Canadian shareholder activism with coverage from the likes of The Financial Post, Calgary Herald and Montreal Gazette.

Now, in response to this piece of advice from yours truly, Aurelian shareholders have taken their message to YouTube. A shareholder by the name of Bob and better known as HUB Leader Heloboy2005, posted what I can only describe as a fantastic 9-minute video statement on behalf of the activist group.

As further evidence this revolt is far beyond a mere fringe group of investors, the video has been viewed 728 times in less than 2 days. Add that to the 580,000 + page views on the Aurelian HUB over the past 30 days and you have a serious group of motivated investors.

The video first outlines all shareholder concerns relating to the deal, including a strong argument for its weak valuation. More importantly, however, it calls out management and the board for what appears to be major potential improprieties, including the granting of more than 2.4 million options to board members only 5 days before JV discussions with Kinross began.

Bob ends the video by challenging President and CEO, Patrick Anderson, to visit the Aurelian HUB on AGORACOM and answer a list of more than 22 questions compiled and posted by the entire group of shareholders.

Will he take up the challenge? There is no doubt in my mind that he now needs to. He doesn’t have to do it on AGORACOM but he definitely needs to address these concerns via a statement of some kind.

In the meantime Mr. Anderson, if you haven’t seen the video, enjoy the following:

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Online Investor Relations, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 3 Comments »

Aurelian Shareholder Revolt On AGORACOM Makes Calgary Herald

Posted by AGORACOM at 7:23 AM on Friday, August 8th, 2008

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources continues to gain momentum, with the Calgary Herald picking up the story today.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used in a powerful and constructive manner.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

Aurelian Shareholder Revolt On AGORACOM Makes Financial Post

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:37 AM on Thursday, August 7th, 2008

The shareholder revolt at Aurelian Resources is picking up an incredible amount of steam, with Peter Koven at the Financial Post covering the story today. Here is a snapshot of the story, which is a great read:

…….continue reading full story here.

Hats off to Peter and FP for covering the importance of this story and the important role of online shareholder communities. Until AGORACOM came along, online stock discussion forums were overrun by spam, profanity, bashing, hyping and flaming. Our Web 2.0 model of combining a reputation system with Wiki and IGC tools (Investor Generated Content) has eliminated 95% of the noise while maximizing constructive and informative discussion.

Hats off to Aurelian shareholders for showing the world how a stock discussion community can be used to enrich investors.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Aurelian Resources Revolt, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

BREAKING NEWS: SEC OKs Websites and Blogs for Reg. FD – Great News For AGORACOM!

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:34 PM on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Good afternoon to you all. The good folks at IR Web Report have posted a report titled SEC OK’s Websites and Blogs For Regulation FD. The report stems from new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today. I am in Europe and unable to review the SEC Staff Statement in detail for several hours but I trust the analysis of Dominic Jones and his team at IR Web Report implicitly.

GREAT NEWS FOR AGORACOM, OUR CLIENTS AND THE INDUSTRY

How big and important is today’s news? I can best summarize it by referring to the opening remarks of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox where he stated:

“The use of electronic media is arguably superior to providing company information the old way.
It’s a better way to provide information to most investors since today it can be presented in
interactive format that allows each individual to click through or drill down to the level of detail
that’s appropriate to him or her.”

Chairman Cox went on to add:

“Technological advances and the reduced costs associated with the implementation of technologies over time, now allow the inclusion of more interactive and current information on company websites than was the case previously. That’s moved websites beyond being just electronic filing cabinets
for electronic documents. Today, company websites are being shaped by the market’s desire for
highly current and interactive information.”

Where have we heard all of this before! 🙂

Suffice it to say this is excellent news for AGORACOM and the entire small-cap space given the fact we strictly use the web to help clients market and communicate faster, better and more cost-efficiently than “traditional” IR has ever provided.

We still need to review the full interpretive release from the SEC, which is expected within the next couple of weeks but it is clear that online investor relations has made a massive leap forward today.

HIGHLIGHTS

I will have more to say later but here are some of the highlights reported by IR Web Report:

  • Previously, the SEC held that corporate websites could only be used as part of the disclosure process, but with the new guidance corporate websites or blogs can now be the sole means of disclosure.
  • SEC Chairman Chris Cox called the new guidance “a big step forward for investors.”
  • While the new guidance says that companies and their employees remain liable for information they post on blogs and discussion forums (not really news), they have NO DUTY to correct inaccurate information posted in comments on their sites by third-parties.
  • John White, director of the SEC’s division of corporation finance, said the new guidance was intended to promote “more innovation, more creativity, more use of interactive technology on company websites and that they become more user-friendly for investors.”

AGORACOM welcomes and applauds the SEC’s official position on the use of web technologies to communicate with investors. The entire world now lives in a Web 2.0 world of online communities, webcasts, blogs, RSS Feeds and “Investor Generated Content”.

The SEC has just proven that it is not only unafraid of Web 2.0, it is actually embracing it. For this we say, thank-you and congratulations! Investor Relations is never going to be the same.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 5 Comments »

Small-Cap (Canada) CEO Lesson – Canadian Internet Access Is Huge and Growing

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:14 PM on Monday, July 28th, 2008

If you are a Canadian Small-Cap CEO that still doubts the power of the web as your primary IR tool, then consider the following facts released by eMarketer very carefully:

1] More than 22 million Canadians will access the Internet regularly in 2008, over 67% of the nation’s total population.

2] Over the next four years, user numbers will rise by about 1.5 million annually, passing 25 million in 2012, when penetration will reach almost 73%.


3] Broadband is more prevalent in Canada than in many other countries, including the US. Broadband penetration is also growing more quickly than the online population.

All of this data prompted Karen Von Abroms, Senior Analyst at eMarketer and author of this report to say:

“The combination of a relatively small population and the country’s large
size may encourage Canadians to make the most of online communications.”

CONCLUSION

You have an entire nation with a vivacious appetite for consuming online content. Their consumption is not selective. Canadians will search, research, communicate, purchase and invest through the web. As such, your audience currently stands at 22,000,000 + potential investors and growing by 1,500,000 new potential investors per year. Moreover, when it is all said and done, 75% of this audience will be consuming rich content (video, audio, webcasts, podcasts, etc.) via brodband.

If you don’t think 22,000,000 – 25,000,000 potential investors warrant your immediate attention, sorry for the interruption. You can now return to your previously scheduled, old-fashioned, outdated IR strategy that is going to leave you sucking the wind of Canadian listed companies that built their IR strategy around an online strategy.

We are in the midst of an unstoppable shift in communications. Companies that adopt a long-term strategy to Target, Amalgamate, Communicate and Convert potential investors via the web will win and win big. Companies that fail to do so will find themselves out of touch, out of favour and too far behind an insurmountable gap.

Regards,
George

Hat tip to Tech Blogger, Mark Evans, who first covered the article.

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Small-Cap CEO Lessons | 2 Comments »

Eric Jackson Speaks Out About Icahn Deal and Voting Against Yahoo Board

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:36 AM on Monday, July 21st, 2008

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

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | Comments Off on Eric Jackson Speaks Out About Icahn Deal and Voting Against Yahoo Board

Eric Jackson Launches “Yahoo! Plan B” Investor Community On AGORACOM

Posted by AGORACOM at 6:45 AM on Monday, July 21st, 2008

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 1st 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.

(more…)

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | Comments Off on Eric Jackson Launches “Yahoo! Plan B” Investor Community On AGORACOM

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

Posted by AGORACOM at 5:36 AM on Monday, July 21st, 2008

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 1st 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.”

(more…)

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | Comments Off on Activist Investor Eric Jackson Recommends Mixed Yahoo!/Icahn Board in Upcoming Yahoo! Proxy Vote

AGORACOM Surveys Over 850 Small-Cap Resource Investors

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:51 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008


[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.

(more…)

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Surveys | 3 Comments »

AGORACOM Surveys Online Research Habits Of Investors At Vancouver Cambridge Conference 2008 (Summer)

Posted by AGORACOM at 6:12 PM on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

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.

(more…)

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Surveys | Comments Off on AGORACOM Surveys Online Research Habits Of Investors At Vancouver Cambridge Conference 2008 (Summer)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »