Inside Scoop page 1

AN OPEN LETTER TO FINANCIERS

From Zardoz

My Dear Friends,

Please forgive me for not writing sooner, but I have found that the responsibilities of owning a planet have introduced me to a host of issues I was totally ill prepared for as a Financier... Builds... Spreads... Work, the list goes on. But rest assured, I have been attentive to the rank that I hold so dear, and all of you have never been far from my thoughts.

And that is the impetus behind this letter. I have been disturbed as of late to read posts on the board from brand spanking new Industrialists advertising the availability of their shares. I shall repeat that. Industrialists are advertising the availability of their shares. Woe is me. What has happened to the fine rank of Financier? There was a day that shares would be scooped up in a matter of minutes. A new Indy would have retina burn from the scroll as he or she witnessed the complete buy out of their company scant seconds after the IPO. But now it seems that there is a sense of complacency, an attitude of nonchalance about buying shares.

And just as troubling, I have noticed Financiers making regular dividend payouts. What made this most troubling is I didn't own shares in all of those companies. In my day, Financiers were proud to spit on our shareholders (which got messy if you happened to be your own shareholder, but I digress). We would brag about how high our disaffection rate would grow to. Disaffecting our shareholders became a sport.

We Financiers were the most detested rank in Federation, and the most feared. The Spynet reports of Financiers logging in and out would make the galaxy tremble with the knowledge that something was afoot. The boards would be filled daily with the pleadings of CEOs for their shares. But that is not the case anymore. What has become of this rank?

My dear friends, I encourage you to be attentive. Work with each other, and buy out all the shares within seconds of an IPO. And make the CEO sweat about the prospect of obtaining his desired amount of shares. Challenge his dividend record. Earn the hate that was thrust upon us. You can do it. Or you can promote and haul like the dickens. That's what I did.

Oh, and if you happen to own shares in one of my companies or if I own shares in your company... uhhh... disregard the above, and just sell the shares back and pay a nice dividend for old time's sake, huh?

Your dear friend and proud former Financier,

Zardoz

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