To OSTK Owners Who Might be Living Under a Rock: Vote “YES”
by Patrick Byrne
Six weeks ago my former employer, Overstock.com, issued this press release:
Overstock Announces Filing of Definitive Proxy Statement for Special Shareholders Meeting
Seeking approval for enhanced Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) has filed the definitive proxy statement regarding the shareholder vote on changes to its certificate of incorporation to facilitate its previously announced proposed dividend of Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock (“Series A-1 Preferred”).
“With this filing, we are another step closer to the issuance of a dividend of shares of Series A-1 Preferred,” said Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson. “I continue to look forward to our shareholders’ chance to voice their support for this dividend in February. I am eager for the company to be able to issue the proposed OSTKO Series A-1 Preferred dividend in March.”
As previously announced, the company is seeking shareholder approval to change the terms of the Certificates of Designation for its Digital Voting Series A-1 Preferred Stock, OSTKO, and Voting Series B Preferred Stock. Shareholders will vote on whether to reallocate the number of preferred shares in order to pay the dividend on a 1:10 basis and to remove restrictions regarding the holding of digital shares. The company anticipates registering the Series A-1 Preferred with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933 so that the Series A-1 Preferred will be freely tradable by non-affiliates upon distribution.
The proxy vote date, which was first announced during Overstock’s Q3 2019 earnings call, will be held on February 13, 2020.
The last time the firm tried to issue a blockchain-based dividend, “The SEC Crie[d] ‘Bazoomba!‘”. To let it go forward would have exposed the systemic “bezzle” (JK Galbraith’s term for the difference between what individuals collectively think they own in the financial system, versus how much there actually is in the financial system to be owned,: the difference, the amount that had been embezzled from society, is “the bezzle”).
A YES vote on this new proposal will create a way to issue the dividend that the SEC should not be able to Bazoomba!
Actually, they should not have been able to Bazoomba’d the last one, either, but there it is.
If you are a holder of OSTK, you should make sure your proxy has been cast in favor of this proposal. Assuming, of course, that you wish the company to be able to go through with its dividend, and thus potentially draw tens of thousands of owners into the world of security tokens. Oh, and if your curious about how many shares (and share entitlements) of OSTK there are out there in the world: I know the firm issued 37 million, but I wonder how many preferred shares are expected as dividends.