Finally sold?

I am a former employee who bought plenty of shares which are now worthless. I knew they were worthless when I bought them, really, but I am an emotional sort sometimes. The money meant nothing to me. I only exercised because I put so much of myself into the place and I wanted to keep a piece. Deep down, I knew it was hopeless and probably will remain so in its current form. But hey, at least I finally get the write off! Woo Hoo!

Working at Impact was fun, but it was like summer vacation in HS. It was a great time and you had a blast and you will remember it forever, but you knew it had to end. At the end of the day, the business model is too expensive, the value proposition to the client is minimal, and the business can't sustain itself as is. School will be back in session real soon.

Sadly, some good things are happening now, but its all probably too little too late. I look back at all the money that was wasted. Its hard to believe one company could screw up so many big decisions.

But, I am not bitter. I had a blast while I was there. I could live to be 1,000 years old and never have more fun working. Of course, I thought I had a purpose. Being there now, I may feel differently.

From what I know, management gets nothing as far as stock goes. All those top level preferred shares were owned by VC's. However, I would bet large coin that all will be getting nice bonuse$ thi$ year, so I doubt all is lost. It is still a major loss no matter how you slice it. Celebrating because you kept a job probably isn't wise. What you need to do is ask yourself why you haven't been offered something elsewhere yet, or why you haven't started looking. Impact's future remains somewhere between "up in the air" and "bleak".

Good luck to those who remain, as many of you are my friends.

 

Nice post and I echo you comments... only correction is that some of the Management will be making money via the preferred shares. The BOD, CEO's (except TM) and some of the MC. The preferred shares were given to NL, RA and others... it's part of their package. That's my only issue with this. The very people who ran the company aground will make money on this...

 

NL had her shares repurchased from what I read in the papers I saw, but I could be wrong. She wasn't named (god forbid) but it sure sounded like her. She wrote a monster check (FACT), but now we know why, as it was guaranteed to a point.

Whether they (management) are or aren't pref shareholders, they'll be comped, so it doesn't matter how. Must be nice to slice a $50 mil company down to $13.5 and get paid for it. Frankly, I am shocked they got 10 cents. What is the point?

I feel for the people who see this as positive, as they simply don't get it. Leave the nest, baby birds. There is a big world out there. Go see how real companies operate.

 

Same here. I figured my stock certificate wasn't worth more than the paper and ink it took to make it. I just didn't realize it would take a mountain of ink and paper to tell me this. I would have been cool with just a text message.

 

I’m hoping it is simply timing but I cannot believe Rich is still at the helm here. Please, please don’t tell me that STG was snowed and lured to the dark side. Rich is very bad for this business and he has to go!

 

Say what you will yet he committed to getting this Company sold in a shitty market with what I believe was little guidance from disinterested investors who should have taken the offer in 2005. That is not his fault. And he tells the truth- maybe too much.

Also if assholes like you would do your job and not rant during the work day we would all be better off. Quit and join Target or SDI.

 

You're nothing but an ignorant, butt-kissing toady. Little guidance? He got plenty of guidance. He was told that the money spigot was turned off and he had to sell at any price. Disinterested? They saw millions of their investment eroded and wanted to get away with whatever crumbs they could salvage. Not his fault? It doesn't take Ron Popeil to sell a company at fire sale prices even in a shitty market. What would have impressed me more would be if he had figured out how to grow revenues. I take that back - I would have given him points if he stopped us from losing 20% of our revenues in the last 3 years.

 

Interestingly enough Altus is simply a bean counter with no experience whatsoever within any part of the Pharma industry, that is other than ImpactRx. That being said, there is no way he could have known what to do in order to even attempt to preserve revenue streams as they eroded. That could have been accomplished by newer products but clearly R&D was not this management teams strong suit - including many previous iterations of the team. Blame Rich for doing a lousy job running the company, but put blame also on those previous and current management team members who clearly were/are incapable of innovation - Caprara, Kain, Angelastro, Leiser, Walton, etc, etc, etc

 

The blame starts with a board who allowed a CFO with no Pharma or Research experience to take over a specialized company. Then the blame then goes directly to Rich who accepted the responsibility and the compensation and continued to sell his pipe dreams to the board and company. At one point, Rich had a plan to take the company to 130-140MM by 2010. He was the one who built and was selling this plan, no one put that into his mind. I place little blame on the Management Team because if you really know Rich, he pulls all the strings and if you disagree with him... see ya!... this is why the Management Team has turned over more than once in his tenure... (and please don't tell me that was to "upgrade talent" because if that was the case, Angelastro wouldn't still be there and there would be real talent on the team (defined by successful innovation)... which there is little of. Converting the panel to iPhones is not innovation.

 

Sorry, but a CEO is accountable for the team he/she assembles. If you pick them and they don't perform, then move them out and get another... that's been done several times under him and still no innovation... Can't put much blame on in ineffective team when the coach pays/plays them every day with the same result.

 

You are correct...there is no way he could know what to do. SO WHY THE HELL WAS HE EVER PUT IN CHARGE!!!!!! It certainly wasn't because of his management skills.

 

Yea, I do know Rich and understand what you are saying. In the end, the management team he assembled and was very richly compensated (everyone making 200K salaries + bonus) IS responsible for the short and long term growth of the company. Clearly they were not capable of doing this and yes, it is ultimately Rich's responsibility as the CEO. I also agree that iPhones are not innovation....had a good laugh at that one.

 

I would agree IF he were the type of CEO who leveraged his talent to the best of their ability, however he manages by the principal "my way or the highway" which then puts the responsibility squarely on his shoulders. Did you ever wonder why so many people who built the company are not around today? True innovators will not stay in a company where they are "neutered". The origional folks thought outside the box, that's were the "first of it's kind" product came from.

 

If you work at ImpactRx and continue to post like a two year old who lost her stuffed animal why don't you please quit? You add zero value. If you post here and no longer work at ImpactRx then you are even more messed up in the head. Get over it.

 

And if you continue to post here and defend the mess that is ImpactRx you are a moron.

 

Wow, did we touch a nerve... HELLO...This is a discussion board and I'm sorry you are offended, just suck it up and accept the thoughts and comments from your employees. It's also part of the job you accepted. If you don't like what you hear, go find something else to do but don't tell us we cannot discuss this subject on a DISCUSSION BOARD....

 

Seems there are a few nerves being touched...maybe Altus or a current member of the crack management team is getting upset. As the previous poster stated, this is a discussion board and this particular thread has been rather civil and informative. Interestingly enough I would like to think people would want to know what type of company it is to work within as well as what type of management team leads the company. Consider the insight a public service announcement.

 

Amen! Well said.. thanks for being the voice of sanity. If someone doesn't like the topic or content, don't read this board.

 

He doesnt have a choice, he has to determine who is committed to the hard work ahead. But this is just another key leader moving on- if he had been replacing/upgrading management talent along the way, this wouldnt be a challenge- but that is not the case.

 

You don't ask folks who have endured what these people have, along with the loss of their shares....., if they are committed. All who remain are obviously committed otherwise they would have dropped out long ago. This statement was said to people with 7-10 years at the company. He doesn't have a clue how to motivate people.