by alec on April 10, 2008
Someone asked me the other day why I wasn’t focusing more on what has been going on with the Pulver organization. The simple answer is that Jeff is a friend and advisor to my company; I’m a blogger, not a journalist; and I don’t attempt to disguise my soapbox, this blog, as unbiased. I think what the Pulver team needs most right now is good wishes, and some breathing room to figure out their next move.
Some do write, though. For those who are interested, Calysto Public Relations publishes a newsletter called PR Vibes, and wrote a short piece about Pulvermedia today. They said:
Pulvermedia – Many rumors have been circulating about Pulvermedia and VON. This is what we know. TICC Capital Group, a Greenwich, CT-based investment group, invested $11 million in Pulvermedia in June 2007. The investment was secured notes with warrants, i.e. debt. In a filing with the SEC in March, TICC said that during the first quarter, Pulvermedia indicated that it was projecting a decline in projected revenues and earnings for the coming year. Based on the review of the company’s financial projections and operating cash flow forecasts, the investment group wrote off the debt and downgraded Pulvermedia’s credit rating to Grade 5. We have been told that this resulted in layoffs and additional cash flow problems. According to Pulvermedia President & CEO Jason Chudnofsky, company executives are in a silent period and cannot speak for thirty days as the company goes through a reorganization. Speculation suggests that VON Magazine will not continue to publish but that the VON Europe event is still expected to be held. The fate of the Fall VON Boston is still unknown.
by alec on April 10, 2008
Truphone punched out an interesting news bite today… they announced that they’ve acquired the business of Sim4Travel. Although Sim4Travel is a publicly traded company in the UK, don’t expect to be buying Truphone stock anytime soon. This is an asset purchase, rather than a merger.
Sim4Travel (for those of us who live outside the UK) is a business selling… you guessed it… cheap roaming for frequent travelers. Pop one of their SIMs in, and you get free inbound calls in 40 odd countries, and you pay 25p per minute to make outbound calls. They’re competitors to folks like United Mobile and Pat Phelan’s Roam4Free MaxRoam.
While I haven’t had a chance to speak with anyone from Truphone, this looks like a sweet deal. When Sim4Travel went public on the OFEX exchange in May of 2006, they traded at 7.5p. Today they closed at a mere .35p. After hours trading dipped to the .20p range presumably as investors digested the news that Sim4Phone is now an empty shell, its assets having been sold. It has been a long and steady decline for Sim4Travel, despite optimistic press releases, and a deal with Carphone Warehouse.
So, why buy them? Well, Truphone CEO James Tagg said: “This completes Truphone’s GSM core network, allowing us to offer global mobile operator services. We’re already enabling customers to make low-cost Wi-Fi calls and soon we’ll be able to provide the added convenience of low-cost GSM calls too, all on a single, worldwide, Truphone SIM.”
The achilles heel of Truphone’s business has been (in my humble opinion) the fact that it was limited to expensive WiFi phones, from Nokia. This step removes that limitation. Now they can sell inexpensive Truphone branded service to anyone. And Tagg says that they will offer those services globally, not just in the UK.
Will Truphone be the world’s GSM and WiFi mobile operator? That would be audacious, now wouldn’t it! Perhaps I can get a company representative to be a guest on the Squawk Box in the near future to answer these and other questions.
