[CLUE-Talk] SCO execs dumping stock

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Wed, 2003-08-13 at 09:00, Kirk Rafferty wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 07:10:02AM -0600, bof wrote:
> >  SCO Group executives have sold about 119,000 shares of their company 
> > since it filed a lawsuit against IBM in March and the stock price 
> > increased more than fourfold.
> > 8<... 
> > How can this be done legally, what will all the other machinations by 
> > SCO going on?
> 
> My understanding (which is, admittedly limited) is that as long as they
> file with the SEC, this type of "insider" trading is legal.  What I think
> could be illegal though is SCO's habit of making big FUD-laden
> announcements every time their stock dips.

However, if you read IBM's counter-suit, you'll see a piece of
information that SCO has *not* reported -- namely, that Novell has (or
at least IBM and Novell claim) a "veto" power over the ability of SCO to
pull IBM's AIX license (which IBM says is irrevocable, anyway) or any
similar action -- which Novell invoked prior to SCO's very public
declaration that they had "pulled" IBM's AIX license. 

Novell sent letters to SCO telling them (essentially) to cease and
desist with attempts to cancel the AIX license, and to cease and desist
saying publically that they had done so.

To date, SCO has continued to claim that they have revoked IBM's AIX
license and have not publically acknowledged Novell's letter. Why Novell
and IBM have not been more public about this, I'm not sure -- probably
giving SCO more rope to hang themselves with. But, the fact that SCO has
not publically divulged this information to the public and their
shareholders -- that would seem to be "insider" information that would
influence the stock price. SCO's stock price shot up rather dramatically
after they claimed to have revoked IBM's AIX license... 

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net