Friday 5 August 2016

Mobio Gets a New CEO: Mike Edwards Comments

There was some big news on one of my old plays, Mobio Technologies. Mike Edwards has stepped down as CEO, to be replaced by Laurie Baggio. While I still hold the stock at a substantial loss, PKK has more than made up for it so I consider it to be a sunk cost lottery ticket.

I asked Mike some questions regarding this deal, and got a fairly quick response back. I asked:

"Will the new CEO be continuing with Strutta? Resurrecting Mobio Insider? Or going in a totally different direction? Maybe more than one of those options?"

His response:


Mike Edwards made some pretty bold statements given how MBO has performed, speaking of building for retirement and parking some alpha in this stock. I appreciate his frankness about this being a LONG term play. It will probably take 5-7 years for MBO to see its split-adjusted high again, and that is assuming execution as planned. Laurie Baggio appears to be the right person to try to grow Strutta. The major issue is that there is substantial dilution associated with this deal. However, I think this will be like what has happened with Keek, where the new investors/management team will take control of a majority stake in the company. And good things appear to be happening with KEK with an app launch today. Mike Edwards is down a lot on this investment, as much as anyone else, and I think he is stubborn enough to participate in the private placement along with Baggio and any of his business associates.

MBO went up a bit today so this news has been received positively. However, with such a small float and thin trading, it likely doesn't mean too much until they lay out a new plan. Calling this a long-term play shouldn't excuse the company from communicating with shareholders. I continue to hold MBO. At such a low price there's nothing much to lose while the CEO change could be the turning point for the company.