Eircom shares...

Evil Phil

... I don't know if this has been suggested before but if you buy an eircom share, then you a share holder. This tactic has been used by other campaign groups against oil companies. One name that springs to mind is BP. Perhaps the best way to pressure on Eircom is from within.

Opinions?

infomat

Originally posted by Evil Phil
... I don't know if this has been suggested before but if you buy an eircom share, then you a share holder. This tactic has been used by other campaign groups against oil companies. One name that springs to mind is BP. Perhaps the best way to pressure on Eircom is from within.

Opinions?

As Eircom will be soon become a private company it would not be practical to purchase shares in Eircom.

Buying a single share in a company is a bit of an "urban myth" (the little guy does not suddenly gain power and beat the big guys).

I am not aware of any stockbroker or bank who would consider an order for a single share (even if they did it would be an expensive process).

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Too late
Tony O'Reilly (virtually) owns 80% of them

Also Sharholders dont get a sya in the day to day running of the operation- ie- lets all vote for £20 broadband HEHEHEHE (I wish!)

Evil Phil

Oh, I didn't know they'd be a private company soon. But re: buying the shares you don't just go out an buy yourself a share. Everybody clubs together and buys them in one lump between them. I'm not sure of the ins-and-outs but I know a man who does .

However it is not an urban myth. A number of green groups have used this exact method in the UK and in the States. To some success as well. [addition] They don't get a say in the day to day running in the company but they do have a vote in who runs the company. The more people the more power they have. [/addition] Pity they sold eircom.

SkepticOne

Isn't the idea not to have actual power but to be able to get in to the AGM and make a protest there? Will there be any more AGMs before the sale goes through?

Delphi91

As far as I'm aware, there won't BE any more shares in Eircom.

I remember reading in the papers that if TOR and Valentia succeeded in obtaining more than 80% approval for their offer, the remaining 20% had no option but to sell up. So, A.J. will have all the "shares" and Eircom gets withdrawn from the stock exchange (?). I'm sure that the share-wise amongst the readership will correct me if I'm wrong on this.

And as for the shareholders holding out for something, remember the board voting themselves a nice big bonus before? They made sure that they held more shares than the great un-washed, so it made sod-all difference if Mrs Murphy and her fellow members of the Active retirement Association decided that Ray and his buddies didn't deserve the bonus! It was almost like having a monopoly!!

R. Daneel Olivaw

I thought it was that if they had 80% of the stock they could make a compulsory purchase of the rest from the remaining holders or something.

Either way, it's ****. Even though the US has endless beaurocracy like in the MS antitrust case, etc., at least they have such laws. Welcome to Ireland, where the population have zero rights, and looking at what the ODTR can do, neither do the government because they were/are too stupid and too slow to pick up on how quickly the tech world moves.

So soon, the entire national phone network will be owned by one man! And they say the US is where capitalism is at it's finest.........

SkepticOne

Valentia have achieved the necessary proportion of the votes to compulsory purchase the remaining shares but it may not yet be a done deal. The takeover may yet be referred to the Competition Authority. If that is the case, then there may be an still be an AGM (I'm not sure).

The main reason campaign groups purchase shares, I think, is in order to protest during AGMs in front of cameras etc. I suppose they could also be purchased to swing votes but I have not heard of this being done.

dahamsta

I thought it was that if they had 80% of the stock they could make a compulsory purchase of the rest from the remaining holders or something.

That's the impression I got too. In fact I think that's almost certainly the case. (Careful adam...)

<general rant removed with sympathy>

So soon, the entire national phone network will be owned by one man!

Nah, not really. As far as I can gather, TOR's shareholding will be tiny, it's all VC. He's just the "sponsor".

The really dodgy thing is control, who's going to take Ray McSherry's seat. If it's TOR, it's particularly dangerous, because we all know he's going to try and "mediafy" Eircom, and having the top dog of a media company in charge of delivery and supply is dangerous. (AOLTW should never have gone through IMHO.)

Even worse, as a private company they won't have to release any details to the public if they don't want to, in fact the only entity that will be able to demand information is the ODTR. That's an fscking scary thought, given Eircom's track record as a public company.

adam

rickoshea

O'Reilly has 4% and the shareholder with the biggest holding will be a US venture capital company called Providence. I can't remember how much they will control.

http://www.providenceequity.com/

b20uvkft6m5xwg

According the Independant today, O'Reilly has an 85% backing after the recent €1.365 offer-

Pretty much puts the deathknel in the IrelandOffline BuyOut attempt:(