Recently, we brought you The Case Against Overstock.com, summarizing the argument against the company made by blogger/hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews. In a series of posts, Mr. Matthews has spelled out a convincing case that something "isn't right" with the company. Too many questions unanswered, and the appearance, sometimes of outright fraud.
Now, we generally know it to be true that when a company focuses much of it's efforts on short-bashing they're probably wasting their time or, more likely, masking up deeper problems. After all, the best way to hurt the shorts is in their pocketbook via good performance.
Via highbeam I found a bizarre transcript of an interview between Ron Insana and Patrick Byrne (Overstock.com's CEO) in which he lashes out at a conspiracy of naked-short-seller:
INSANA: First of all, give us the evidence that you have that a naked short-selling scheme is behind the decline in your stock price?
BYRNE: We have affidavits from people who participated.
INSANA: All right. Can you be more specific?
BYRNE: No, I could, I`m not going to. We have affidavits from people who participated.
INSANA: And what did they say was done exactly?
BYRNE: They say that the research was supplied to Rocker before it was published to the other clients, that Rocker had a hand in editing it, making changes, making demands, that certain grades be lowered and then ultimately, that Camelback (ph).
INSANA: Which is in now Gradient, right?
BYRNE: Gradient -- I`m sorry, that Gradient actually hold the research so he could build his position. It continues, I mean, the same people, say Herb Greenberg at thestreet.com, was -- is certainly linked to this.
INSANA: Linked in what way? I mean, you are making now allegations about journalists helping others to front-run or trade illegally in the shares of your company stock.
BYRNE: That`s correct, that`s what I am doing.
INSANA: All right. So what evidence do you have that a journalist.
BYRNE: I`ve got affidavits from people who were involved and can tell the whole story and that I look forward to the day that those are public.
INSANA: All right. Now, let me ask you about the SEC investigation which you disclosed on your conference call this morning. Is this SEC investigation, which you said was begun in February and is informal, an investigation of the short sellers or an investigation of your company and its financials?
BYRNE: Well, first of all, I think I`m not supposed to officially know. I was tipped off anonymously from folks within Wall Street that the SEC had gone on a fishing trip. I`ve been highly.
INSANA: So you`re getting inside information, too?
Jeff Matthews, in his most recent entry reprints some of the recent conference call (which I haven't been able to verify myself, as it is not on highbeam yet) under the title "I am not a cokehead, and other truths from Patrick Byrne, CEO"
I believe there’s been a plan since we were in our teens to destroy our stock, drive it down to $6 to $10...
These are the folks I’m going to talk about….Leon Black I’ve put in there just because he’s a well-known financier hedge fund guy. Got nothing to say about him. Sort of putting him in as an example of a -- just somebody in a hedge fund...
Jim Caruthers is an interesting fellow. He’s up at Eastborne Capital, north of San Francisco. Eastborne has an “E” at the end. It’s funny because there’s a fellow holding himself out in a nearby location by the name of Jim Karruthers, with a slightly different spelling, holding himself out as a private investigator from Eastborn Investigations, no “E” at the end. I know that couldn’t be this Jim Caruthers, because that would be a felony for a person to hold himself out as a PI when he’s not. And that PI has a very interesting relationship with a certain lawyer in Detroit who has some very odd practices that maybe we’ll have time to get back to...
Kevin Ingram was a prominent fellow in the late 1990’s in Wall Street. He left Wall Street, started a dot com. I think it was crashing. He got caught attempting to sell Stinger missiles or obtain Stinger missiles for some Pakistani ISI agent, who turned out to be undercover feds. In fact, he agreed to work on obtaining a nuclear trigger for them. So he went to the pen for a few years. He’s out now and he’s basically a gopher for some of these folks...
there's more:
As this went on I started realizing that there was actually some more orchestration here being provided, by what I’m calling here is the Sith Lord…He’s one of the master criminals from the 1980s, and he’s back in business. But I’m not going to. I’ll just call him the master mind today...
So, in the words of Wayne and Garth, “Squeeze me?”
By the way, Carol Remond has something stuck in her craw about the fact, most people I think understood that when I said “those I took baths with” to mean like my cousins and brothers, whatever, girlfriends. She’s calling around and saying that there’s a, Byrne has a gay bathhouse cabal and that’s where this has been organized. Something about the whole bath reference has steamed Carol. My theory is it’s because she’s French…
I put information down there that I was gay. And…I put information down that I was a coke head. Now my apologies to my gay friends, both within and without, outside the company, I don’t mean to equate the two. I don’t care. I’m a libertarian and I don’t care at all. In fact I don’t give a hoot if anyone thinks I’m gay, but I thought that by keeping, by putting that information down on one channel and putting the coke head information down the other channel, I would then know if it leaked…
On the coke head thing, and by the way, I’ve never, with one exception, I’ve never even seen cocaine in my life so in case you’re wondering, no, I’m not a coke head...
Read the whole thing here.
If this is really what was said on the conference call, and I'll be checking back to confirm this, then the CEO of Overstock appears to have gone off the deep end, and I shudder to think of the shareholders entrusting their money to him.
But what to make of Jeff Matthews and his one-man battle against Byrne and overstock. In the views of this blog it is overdone. In this entry he accuses Byrne of hiring a former exotic dancer as an executive vice president, by virtue of the effect that the executive, Stormy Simon, shares a name with an exotic dancer made in a Utah court. The evidence is tenuous, and when combined with calling the CEO names, it seems that Mr. Matthews may be crossing the line, and using his blog as a way of promoting the short case (a bet which he has made) to his own profit. Just like Byrne should let the company's operations do the talking, perhaps Mr. Matthews should let this die and make his profits, if and when shares of Overstock crater.
Why doesn't anyone check into Stormy Simon's past. She is a high school druggie dropout with no real business experience. The only and I mean the only reason she moved up in the Overstock organization is she sleeps with the boss. Yes, she is Mr. Bryne's sex toy at his beckon and call. That is why she is a Sr. Vice President. There is a reason she has had many positions at Overstock, and it is because she is not good at any of them. Others here at Overstock write memos and correspondence for her, and these "ideas" that she supposedly comes up with (like the Big-O) advertisements, they were not her ideas. She stole them, in fact, she can't even spell half the supposed words that are in her correspondence. She is a druggie who boasts about sharing drugs with her children, and basically has nothing good to say about her family. So why doesn't someone really look into her past before they try to make her look like some role model. In fact how do we not know she wasn't an accomplice to the crime, dating a man she knew was married, and then waiting 4 years to look like a hero. Ms. Simon is a deceptive phony, just looking to get into the spotlight at anyone's expense.
Posted by: overstock anonymous | March 10, 2007 at 06:23 PM
Is Stormy from Texas? Did she go to RL Turner highschool? Would she be about 43? If so I remember her.
Posted by: jenn | May 24, 2007 at 10:33 PM
I worked for Overstock.com for almost 2 years and dealt directly with Stormy Simon for most of that time. She has held numerous titles with the company. The most interesting thing about her tenure with the company is her meteoric rise to power. Stormy was hired as a temp to telemarket for the B2B sales division. Essentially she was cold calling local businesses out of the yellow pages. In less than a year she managed to go from a temp employee from a staffing service to senior management. It was widely known in the company that Stormy had a special relationship with Patrick. However given her power and status in the company it is not in anybodys best interest to object or talke about it. I had numerous conversations with Stormy and other executives regarding Pot use and other recreational activities. There is a very good reason that Overstock.com does not drug test its employees at the corporate office. Stormy has a son who she got a job working at the warehouse. He failed a random UA and instead of being terminated he was offered a second chance to retake the UA in a month. The cocky kid then proceeded to brag that he was not too worried about passing his test as Stormy and Patrick would never let him be fired for drugs as he has smoked pot with Patrick on numerous occasions. Needless to say this caused quite an HR issue with the warehouse staff and Stormy's son was quietly dismissed. Upper management of Overstock.com has a name for some of the more bizzare directives and ideas put forth by Patrick Byrne. They are referred to as Patrick's Thai Stick Moments. I have witnessed Patrick Byrne stoned on several occassions as well as Stormy and other former executives. The company was effectionately known as smokemorepot.com by employess and others in the know. There is a serious lack of qualified management at this company. Anybody who is capable that is hired is quickly put into place by Stormy and most wont stick around long enough to to try and be effective at their jobs. It is well known at this point that should you cross Stormy or any of her minions, that you will find yourself on the unemployment line. So at the end of all this I guess my point is Stormy, Patrick and other management at Overstock are drug users to some degree or another. The biggest problem with this company is putting someone like stormy in a position where she has mostly unlimited power over the staff and little if any qualifications for the position other than being a good little girl for the big boss.
Posted by: Mike Ockslarge | February 06, 2008 at 12:15 PM
I know Stormy she grew up in small town Tooele Utah and I have done cocaine with her on several occasions and you are right she does not have the qualifications to be in the position she is in. she did infact drop out of high school.
Posted by: Joe Dones | October 02, 2008 at 12:49 PM
She has slept with me for coke twice in 1992
Posted by: jason huggins | May 22, 2010 at 09:43 PM
I don't have any opinion about what Sue Lowden said there, but I get the impression she has this stupid imperial air about her when answering questions and dealing with people. I get the impression she's used to snapping her fingers, pointing and casino workers just leap into action
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Posted by: Retro Jordans | August 21, 2010 at 02:55 AM
all of a sudden I've got the munchies....
Posted by: navy48 | August 29, 2010 at 01:37 PM
you guys are all jealous idiots. Stormy Simon is a beautiful, successful, amazing business woman who took her rough life and disadvantages and turned around to make a name for herself. She dropped out of high school, so what? There are PLENTY of successful people who barely even passed the seventh grade, grew up in third world countries or have been in rehab. Do not judge her on her past, or assume that she is only at the top because she slept with someone. Get a life. Did you see her in bed with someone? Doubt it. GO back to high school if you believe rumors and start gossip. Do your thing Stormy Simon! Ignore the haters!
Jason Huggins, uh, she slept with you for coke huh? Why should anyone believe u? Cokeheads are liars.
christina.jones57@yahoo.com
Posted by: jaymee | September 12, 2010 at 02:34 AM
well i just saw her commercial and was wondering if she may have been related to carly simon. my mistake.
Posted by: kristen | September 25, 2010 at 12:03 PM
Damn potheads are ruining the internet!
I'd much rather buy from an e-commerce site that employs alcoholics, power trippers and sex addicts who aren't qualified to have a few certain letters and maybe a period or apostrophe before their name!
Hell with it, I say that anyone who's risen to president or vice president of anything has either slept with everyone in corporate, snorted coke off at least 100 hookers tits, made everyones kids smoke pot, or slaughtered 1000 puppies in order to get the job...
Posted by: Jigdo | October 22, 2010 at 08:05 AM
some of you in here talking about "OH MY GOD, she does pot, she's a druggie!" are a JKOE! If you want to call someone a druggie for smoking pot then you are a hypocrite because you do drugs too (aspirin,tylenol,alcohol,tobacco) and did you know pot has NEVER,(yes, that's right, NEVER) caused anyones death as long as humans have been on this earth. Tylenol kills WAYYYY more people than that a year. So, you wanna think again who you are calling a druggie? so next time you take a tylenol, remember you are drug addict. right?!
Posted by: BM | October 22, 2010 at 12:23 PM
im kinda thinkin you ppl are jealous of stormie cause she DID move up. so she used her yummie to do it, at least she did it.
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Posted by: True Religion Outlet | May 11, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Stormy Simon was not a stripper it was Made up by Jeff Mathews to attract people to his website the name of the blog if called Jeff Mathews is not making this up. Any person with a brain would be able to tell he is full of it. and weather or not she did coke when she was younger dosnt matter because she doesnt now and Jason Huggins I know her and i Know your full of S**T
Posted by: B | May 18, 2011 at 05:04 PM