Post by lurknomore on Jun 8, 2010 11:34:08 GMT -5
WARNING:
Very, very sad story.
Excerpts only:
(June 6) -- A retired South Carolina teacher two weeks ago opened a piece of mail that he likened to getting kicked in the stomach:
"If you are receiving this letter, it means that I have taken, or at least attempted to take, my own life..."
The letter was written by a North Canton, Ohio, man named Barry Watzman. He and the recipient had never met face to face, but they did chat online for years via a bulletin board devoted to Rambus Inc., a small California company that designs memory interface solutions for computer chips.
Tragically, Watzman was not joking. A few days before his 61st birthday, he hooked a breathing tube up to the tailpipe of his car and drifted off to eternal sleep. However, he refused to go quietly into that good night: Watzman asked the retired teacher to post his long-distance suicide note on the Rambus forum.
"I have nothing left, NOTHING," Watzman confessed in his letter. "I never in my wildest dreams thought that this situation would end up this way."
_______________
Conversation on the often raucous Rambus bulletin board turned suddenly sober and sentimental in the wake of the Watzman news. Posters reflected upon a death "in the family," mourning someone who, conventionally speaking, was a stranger to them, a disembodied voice on their computer screens. But "Ramboids," as the hardest-core stock holders are known, tend to be creatures of impassioned extremes.
"The board is filled with people who get seriously emotional about investing," said Jeff Schreiner, a senior semiconductor analyst at Capstone Investments, who has been tracking Rambus since 2000. "This is different from other companies."
_______________
Rambus is what's commonly referred to as a story stock, only in this case the narrative rises to the level of a sprawling, multigenerational Russian novel.
_______________
Those arguments have been publicly hashed out (also, rehashed and re-rehashed) for nearly 15 years. In courtrooms in Virginia, Delaware, California and Washington, D.C. At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and International Trade Commission.
Charges and countercharges have been traded ad infinitum involving collusion, document destruction and price fixing. Hundreds of millions of dollars in court costs ... and counting. Enough legal briefs filed to fill the Grand Canyon.
And, still, no definitive resolution.
Watzman's suicide note lambasted dithering judges, corporate patent pirates and even Rambus' bonus-happy executives. "Screwing shareholders," he proclaimed, "is 'the American Way.' "
_____________
He leaves behind a mother, two adult sons and a wife. Debbie Watzman understandably wants nothing further to do with Rambus. She repeatedly warned her husband about placing too much faith in one company, about the dangers of unconditionally giving heart and soul to a stock.
"He was not a naive investor, but at the end it wasn't an investment strategy. It was gambling," she told AOL News. "I wish I could warn everybody who's involved with this thing to take a step back."
The International Trade Commission was due to announce a decision on May 26 in a high-profile case where Rambus asserts a European chip maker has infringed upon several patents. Ramboids were in no stepping-back mood.
May 26 would've been Barry Watzman's birthday. Many Ramboids saw poetic justice in the timing of those dual events. A favorable ITC verdict normally sends the winning company's stock price soaring. This could mark an important turning point in Rambus' intellectual property fight. It could mean a measure of redemption for poor Watzman.
Poetic justice didn't happen. The International Trade Commission elected to postponed its decision until late July.
Rambus stock tumbled 10 percent after that latest delay. But the price spiked back up this week: There are rumors a ruling is imminent in another case being heard in California federal court. Ramboids are again anxiously anticipating word from a judge. Waiting ... waiting ... waiting.
Great news could come any minute.
www.aolnews.com/money/article/rambus-investor-barry-watzman-commits-suicide/19502259
____________
Sounds ALL TOO FAMILIAR. Please be careful, everyone. Seek help if needed. Seriously. This may be going on for YEARS...
-lurknomore
Very, very sad story.
Excerpts only:
(June 6) -- A retired South Carolina teacher two weeks ago opened a piece of mail that he likened to getting kicked in the stomach:
"If you are receiving this letter, it means that I have taken, or at least attempted to take, my own life..."
The letter was written by a North Canton, Ohio, man named Barry Watzman. He and the recipient had never met face to face, but they did chat online for years via a bulletin board devoted to Rambus Inc., a small California company that designs memory interface solutions for computer chips.
Tragically, Watzman was not joking. A few days before his 61st birthday, he hooked a breathing tube up to the tailpipe of his car and drifted off to eternal sleep. However, he refused to go quietly into that good night: Watzman asked the retired teacher to post his long-distance suicide note on the Rambus forum.
"I have nothing left, NOTHING," Watzman confessed in his letter. "I never in my wildest dreams thought that this situation would end up this way."
_______________
Conversation on the often raucous Rambus bulletin board turned suddenly sober and sentimental in the wake of the Watzman news. Posters reflected upon a death "in the family," mourning someone who, conventionally speaking, was a stranger to them, a disembodied voice on their computer screens. But "Ramboids," as the hardest-core stock holders are known, tend to be creatures of impassioned extremes.
"The board is filled with people who get seriously emotional about investing," said Jeff Schreiner, a senior semiconductor analyst at Capstone Investments, who has been tracking Rambus since 2000. "This is different from other companies."
_______________
Rambus is what's commonly referred to as a story stock, only in this case the narrative rises to the level of a sprawling, multigenerational Russian novel.
_______________
Those arguments have been publicly hashed out (also, rehashed and re-rehashed) for nearly 15 years. In courtrooms in Virginia, Delaware, California and Washington, D.C. At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and International Trade Commission.
Charges and countercharges have been traded ad infinitum involving collusion, document destruction and price fixing. Hundreds of millions of dollars in court costs ... and counting. Enough legal briefs filed to fill the Grand Canyon.
And, still, no definitive resolution.
Watzman's suicide note lambasted dithering judges, corporate patent pirates and even Rambus' bonus-happy executives. "Screwing shareholders," he proclaimed, "is 'the American Way.' "
_____________
He leaves behind a mother, two adult sons and a wife. Debbie Watzman understandably wants nothing further to do with Rambus. She repeatedly warned her husband about placing too much faith in one company, about the dangers of unconditionally giving heart and soul to a stock.
"He was not a naive investor, but at the end it wasn't an investment strategy. It was gambling," she told AOL News. "I wish I could warn everybody who's involved with this thing to take a step back."
The International Trade Commission was due to announce a decision on May 26 in a high-profile case where Rambus asserts a European chip maker has infringed upon several patents. Ramboids were in no stepping-back mood.
May 26 would've been Barry Watzman's birthday. Many Ramboids saw poetic justice in the timing of those dual events. A favorable ITC verdict normally sends the winning company's stock price soaring. This could mark an important turning point in Rambus' intellectual property fight. It could mean a measure of redemption for poor Watzman.
Poetic justice didn't happen. The International Trade Commission elected to postponed its decision until late July.
Rambus stock tumbled 10 percent after that latest delay. But the price spiked back up this week: There are rumors a ruling is imminent in another case being heard in California federal court. Ramboids are again anxiously anticipating word from a judge. Waiting ... waiting ... waiting.
Great news could come any minute.
www.aolnews.com/money/article/rambus-investor-barry-watzman-commits-suicide/19502259
____________
Sounds ALL TOO FAMILIAR. Please be careful, everyone. Seek help if needed. Seriously. This may be going on for YEARS...
-lurknomore