MY VIEWS ON STERLING AND HIS TRIP
1. I have no problem with a shareholder visiting with the company on his own dime. And for those that feel it is unfair that any particular shareholder gets extra time with management, GET OVER IT. Analysts regularly call companies and get extended priority face time with management. Yes, Sterling is far from an analyst but it is Urban's decision as to who he meets with. If Urban decided he wanted shareholder views on certain matters but didn't feel comfortable inviting 800 shareholders, that's his choice. Deal with it.
2. Sterling apparently was put in charge of distributing shares to those he felt were loyal/needy. I have no issue with this as it is no different than Urban himself doing this or Urban assigning his wife shares to distribute or anyone else Urban would place into such a position. For whatever reason, Urban felt Sterling was closer to shareholders than Urban was and knew who would better appreciate shares. The bottom line is that Urban gave away his own personal restricted shares to those in need. For people who have a problem with charitable donation like this, GET OVER IT.
3. Now that having been said, I don't like it. I just think now is not the time for this to happen. Again I feel this is a poor timing decision by management. One among many. Thankfully they are all minor issues in my opinion. I dislike the visa pr for its timing. I dislike this share distribution for its timing. I dislike the Halloween party for its timing. I just honestly wish Urban and management could understand that until the facts are more fully disclosed with respect to the company, that we are ALL better off if the company would stop doing things that are either promotional or even charitable. It is just flat out weird to be giving away shares right now when shareholders are struggling with the facts and left to twist at the mercy of a share price that refuses to ever budge despite 98% buys. Again, I don't have a problem with Urban doing this, just NOT NOW.
4. I guess a second issue I have is not that Sterling is in charge of distribution, but that how is that distribution being policed. I don't suspect for a second that Sterling would do anything but distribute them to those he truly believed needed them. But still, there should be some sort of safeguard so that EVERYONE is comfortable that is happening. Otherwise how do people know Sterling is not showing favoritism or distributing to his friends/family. Again, I don't believe he would, but in the corporate world, you have independent audits/verification of these kinds of things to make sure they do not happen. I don't like the system Urban has chosen. I have mixed emotions about such a system since the root of it, after all, IS that Urban is charitably giving away his personal property. THAT is highly commendable. Still, right now, charitable or not, Urban's highest priority MUST be to current shareholders and such a move IMO undermines shareholder confidence. The timing is bad and the mechanism is questionable. I think this could have been handled more professionally.
5. Roger approved everything apparently. Although the bashers will surely attack Roger's credibility and claim "Oh, THIS is the guy you choose to believe in that lets THIS happen?" but, personally, yes, I do believe in Roger. I believe that unless you are a securities expert, then I don't think you have much strength in telling Roger what he should and shouldn't permit. I am not a securities attorney. I defer to Roger completely on the legality and permissibility of this. And since he apparently approved it, then I trust it is acceptable in the SEC's eyes.
6. As far as I can tell, Sterling stopped posting shortly before his trip. If he was then informed that these shares would be given to him and he then stopped posting and stopped appearing in Paltalk and, upon his return, promptly made the appropriate disclosures (currently on paltalk and presumably on his website), then I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would claim he's done anything improper. He has now made the proper disclosures. Whether you choose to see him as biased or not is your decision. He has disclosed any conflict. Prior to receiving these shares, there was no conflict if he recieved no compensation. Arguably, there STILL is no conflict as these shares are to be distributed to other people outside of sterling. But I say "arguably" because that is a gray area, but it's moot anyway after full disclosure. If you wish to feel Sterling is now biased, that's your choice. As far as I could tell, he had no way of knowing that he would definitely be in that position to distribute shares to others until they were HANDED to him. At that point, a conflict existed and Sterling has since made the appropriate disclosures IMO. Anyone sobbing over Sterling now being biased needs to remember that Sterling only ever offered his personal opinions. And I don't know the exact amount of shares that Sterling personally has owned throughout all this, but I have no doubt his opinions were heavily biased simply because he owned shares he bought with his own money. Just as my opinions were similarly biased and anyone else's that own shares. For those crying over this sudden "revelation", Sterling was just one man with his own opinions. Personally, I still think most of what he says has great merit and doesn't change AT ALL for me because of this disclosure. It's up to you, however, to decide how you feel. But don't ever blame him for "turning" on you or "misleading" you IMO. IMO you needed to be fully comfortable with your OWN assessment of all information before investing not because of one man.
7. None of this has any relevanace IMO to CMKX the company. Yeah, Urban is unconventional and gets ahead of himself when it comes to marketing and giving, but as I said before, this part of Urban IMO is why we will not only end up succeeding but doing better than other companies because of it. I don't see the fact that Urban decided to give away his personal shares for charitable distribution as having any effect on: our property, the Goldak/TDEM survey, our drilling, the possibility of a short squeeze, the dividends were getting, the progress we're making and Roger Glenn's/EA's oversight of it all.
Bashers will have a field day with this. That's inevitable. My personal opinion is so what. I disagree with it myself but it doesn't effect my long-term outlook on this stock in the slightest. Some may sell tomorrow in reaction to it. Hey, that's their choice and, honestly, if they are selling because of Sterling, they probably shouldn't have bought in in the first place. This company has very little to do with Sterling AT ALL. Any investment decisions based purely on Sterling IMO are poor ones.
Good luck to everyone. Those are my thoughts on Sterling and his recent trip. Any debate on my opinions and you can have at it with each other. I really don't care one way or the other. I'm over it and because I don't feel it impacts the future of this company in any way, I really don't care to discuss it any further. Take care and good night. See you after the next PR.
