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Chapter 4 - The IPO, June 29-30, 1999 - Episode 3
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The Chat Board
hackoff opens
by: thewatcher02 (35/M/New Rochelle, NY) 06/30/99 9:50 am
Msg: 1 of 15
hackoff’s opened at 19!
Re: hackoff opens
by: ChorusLine (22/F/Paramus, NJ)
Long-Term Sentiment: Buy 06/30/99 9:51 am
Msg: 2 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 1 by thewatcher02
No where to go but up!
Re: hackoff opens
by: pooper
Long-Term Sentiment: Sell 06/30/99 9:52 am
Msg: 3 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 2 by ChorusLine
The only thing going straight up is Al Gore for president
Hackoff
by: Jumbo10 (43/M/New York, NY)
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 06/30/99 9:53 am
Msg: 4 of 15
hackoff.com might actually be a real company unlike most of the shit that’s coming out lately. They’ve been in business for years and they actually get real revenue from some of their customers. Not profitable yet, of course, but there’s something to look at besides how many hits their website gets. I see their hackmenot logo on more and more sites. The ones that dont pay them cash give them stock so theres e-commerce upside too. Its really a b2b play.
The CEO knows a lot about the Internet security market. Back in the early 90s he was responsible for a hack called Gotcha – stole a lot of credit card numbers from banks. He confessed — must have been close to getting caught — and went to jail. But when he got out he started hackoff and its been growing ever since. Hes a crook, of coarse, like all CEOs but maybe he’s our crook.
The CFO’s a babe; she used to model swim suits. But she’s supposed to have brains, not just tits.
The CTO’s from Microsoft. That means he’s smart. Of course, sometimes the ones that leave Microsoft arent so smart.
The sales guy is from CA and Symantec; they know how to sell.
Of coarse Barcourt took them out and they’re a bunch of crook but so is everyone else on the street.
Re: hackoff opens
by: scooper
Long-Term Sentiment: Buy 06/30/99 9:54 am
Msg: 5 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 3 by pooper
pooper, you’re just as much an asshole as your buddy gore and this is not a political board
Re: hackoff
by: Alaska60-60
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Sell 06/30/99 9:55 am
Msg: 6 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 4 by jumbo10
Jumbo you must be hacking off yourself thinking about donnas tits. jerkoff is a turkey company run by a lizard. Antihack has these assholes beet hollow.
Re: hackoff
by: scooper
Long-Term Sentiment: Buy 06/30/99 9:56 am
Msg: 7 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 6 by Alaska60-60
alaska, you’re as much an asshole as your friend pooper and this is not the antihack board. why don’t you stay there where you belong so you can pump and dump that and not bother us here on this board
Jerkoff down
by: Alaska60-60
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Sell 06/30/99 10:01 am
Msg: 8 of 15
the stock is in the crapper already. Its down to 20. Sell b4 it crashes
Re: Jerkoff down
by: Jumbo10 (43/M/New York, NY)
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 06/30/99 10:05 am
Msg: 9 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 8 by Alaska60-60
It priced at 15 and opened at 19 and now is at 20, asshole. All these dips are is a chance for the marketmaker crooks to buy cheaper than we can. Try to buy at the last trade price and you’ll see you can’t do it. The mms have this well in control. But it looks like it’s a good company and it’s a buy in the 20s or even 30s.
Re: Jerkoff down
by: PacPhil (22/M/New York, NY)
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 06/30/99 10:07 am
Msg: 10 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 9 by jumbo10
Jumbo, you sound like you know your shit. I hope you’ll write more about hackoff. Where do you think the stock’ll be a year from now? How can an excon be a CEO? What does the street think?
Re: Jerkoff down
by: Alaska60-60
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Sell 06/30/99 10:10 am
Msg: 11 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 9 by jumbo10
Your an idiot or just getting reddy to dump your stock. Maybe you work for jerkoff. This turkey is headed noware but down and the lizard’ll take it there
Whats Happening
by: CLess
06/30/99 10:15 am
Msg: 12 of 15
Does anyone know what hackoff opened at??? Is a porno site a good investment?
Donna
by: TestTost (32/M/San Francisco, CA)
Long-Term Sentiment: Strong Buy 6/30/99 10:15 am
Msg: 13 of 15
Donna’s a babe. Did U know she was in the SI Swimsuit addition in 90 something???? She’s so hot!!!!
Re: hackoff opens
by: ChorusLine (22/F/Paramus, NJ)
Long-Term Sentiment: Buy 06/30/99 10:16 am
Msg: 14 of 15
Posted as a reply to: Msg 2 by ChorusLine
Its bouncing up and down. what will the street think?
Stock Opened
by: thewatcher02 (35/M/New Rochelle, NY) 06/30/99 10:30 am
Msg: 15 of 15
hackoff’s up again. Its at 23
###
Fifty-five Broad Street is a high-tech tower. Its owners tout it as the “digital sandbox”, the “original home of New York’s technology industry”. After tossing the butt of his cigar down a sewer grate, Larry takes the elevator up to the fourth floor offices of hackoff.com where there is a party going on in the conference room — pizza and champagne. CNBC is showing on a big monitor and there are cheers each time the HOFC symbol crosses the ticker at the bottom of the screen — louder, of course, when it ticks up than when it ticks down.
One of the programmers makes a sweeping bow to Larry as he enters the room. Others imitate him and almost everyone cheers.
“You did it, boss.”
“I’m rich.”
“More options.”
“Shit, it’s down to twenty-four.”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s going back up again.”
Larry waits awhile then gets everyone to quiet down so he can speak. “Okay guys, we did it. Going public is the reward we all get for the long days, for all the nights at work. This is something we all did together; that’s why hackoff gives options to everyone. Everyone who contributed should be a winner and you are ALL winners. Today is a day to celebrate. But tomorrow we have to get back to work. Hackers already target us because we frustrate them. Now that we’re public we’ll be even more of a target. We worked hard to get where we are. But we can’t stand still. There’s more hard work ahead. That’s the only way to make sure the stock price keeps going up and that you earn more options.
“We can’t watch the stock price all day or, for sure, it will stop going up,” Larrry adds, but he can’t resist noticing that it is at 261/2. “It’s going to go down as well as up and we can’t get obsessed by these short term movements.”
On cue, the price falls back to 25 on a block of 100 thousand shares. Everyone groans and Larry loses the flow of his speech.
“Lar,” says Dom Montain, the CTO, “at Microsoft we had a little applet that stayed on everybody’s screen all day with the latest trade. It saved everybody going to the Web all the time to check the price. Saves bandwidth, too; the data just rides along in heartbeat packets. Do you want that for here? I think I have the source code. Anyway, it’s easy.”
“No, that’s dumb,” says Larry harshly. “We have to work; not watch the stock all day.” His vehemence staunches the happy buzz for a few minutes, but he smiles and the buzz resumes as the stock ticks back up.
“Boss, we got you your special mushroom and pineapple pizza,” says a short administrative assistant in a very short leather skirt and tight black, hackoff tshirt. They have saved a special pizza for Larry and he makes a show of eating it gratefully while he sips champagne and watches the ticker.
“Hey, boss?” says one of the salesmen.
“Yeah?”
“How DO we get more options? When will hackoff be giving out some more?”
“Don’t be greedy,” says Larry. The laughter from the crowd is dutiful but not enthusiastic. “And don’t be in too much of a hurry to cash out your options when the trading window opens.
“Yeah,” interrupts Dom. “The first people at Microsoft to cash out their options bought motorcycles; the next group bought Porshes, then Ferraris, then houses, then mansions. The SMART people held on and they’re wind surfing year-round or doing whatever the hell else they please…”
“This isn’t Microsoft,” says Larry.
“And none of this is to be taken as advice on what to do with your stock once the trading window opens,” says chief counsel Aaron Smyth, glancing pointedly at Dom. ”Management never gives advice.”
“Okay, people, back to work,” says Larry, smiling again as the stock rises to 27. He turns off the TV and goes back to his office.
An hour later, the stock is at 19 and Larry, alone in his office, is clearly anxious and constantly checking the price. All over hackoff, people are checking the stock price and recalculating their net worth every ten minutes. The company’s LAN slows to a crawl under the burden of price queries to the slight annoyance of the few people who are trying to work and the great annoyance of those who need yet another quote.
###
Email, June 30, 1999
From: Kevin Wong [mailto:kevinw@hackoff.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 12:01 PM
To: Dom Montain
Subject: stock price applet
Looks like we need it:-}
From: Dom Montain [mailto:domm@hackoff.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 12:04 PM
To: Kevin Wong [mailto:kevinw@hackoff.com]
Subject: RE: stock price applet
Doesn’t sound like Lar wants it:-{
Someday he’ll listen.
From: Kevin Wong [mailto:kevinw@hackoff.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 12:06 PM
To: Dom Montain
Subject: hofc
Now its 18.
From: Dom Montain [mailto:domm@hackoff.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 12:08 PM
To: Kevin Wong
Subject: RE: hofc
Watching won’t help. Lar’s right about that.
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