Member Info for Tricky_Dicky

http://investor.rubiconproject.com/news-releases/news-release-details/rubicon-project-reports-fourth-quarter-2018-results

just pulling bits and bobs together makes little sense stt1
All companies have to warn of potential threats and costs during operations and mergers/takeovers
It sounds like a baboon has gotten among the typewriters and is having a hysterical time trying to make mischief
And then the GDPR stuff! - Here we go again we all think, Mr. nut-job banging his head on the wall once more,
We used to have a man like that in our village, not sure what happened to him...

We won't know until the figures are out (after the event) and that is the only issue I have
To suggest that " R1 is now strongly cash generative and profitable" is unproven and always has been.

The R1 sp was never twice the price just before the deal was announced and in any case the low R1 sp now is irrelevant as the ratio of TAP to R1 was calculated when the sp was higher.
I can agree that it would be reassuring to see audited results for both companies prior to any vote on the takeover.
That is the only niggle I have - if R1 are doing so well then why not wait until results are known?

In this case being acquired might be the only way for shareholders to regain some of their investment
R1 been losing money for years, and its stock price has suffered as a consequence, despite all takeovers/mergers to date.

1602 SIGNATURES NOW STATED ON THE PETITION
At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition

I sold R1 when it was at 270p some months ago and let the cash sit in my account.
I recently bought back at 174p and was quite pleased to average down, I would certainly buy more at the current low price.
TAP is an unknown quantity to me so I'd rather not speculate further.
I suspect the big players are shaking the tree and about to gorge on the windfall prices.

People buy and sell stuff all the time with little regard for anything other than turning a profit.
Sentiment has no place at all, indeed why should it have?
If something can be sold on then it must typically have even greater value to its buyer.
If the companies R1 bought did not increase the profitability of the parent company then either the market was falling as a whole, down to various problems or the deals were seriously misguided.

I believe the market has taken a recent battering (the much-berated stt1 will agree) and we see the small-fry attempting various survival mechanisms.

The next step up in the chain for R1 was/is a merger anyway and not a simple sale for profit so horses for courses and all that!

It looks like rather like a case of two smallish companies cutting their market losses and combining forces in order to present a unified presence in the face of general weakness in the ad-tech sector.
It makes you wonder how this will change their appetite for further acquisitions.

I believe that in life you absolutely have to look forward to positive opportunities and never backward - that way is obstinately beloved by some, and with no names mentioned, but it is entirely fruitless.

'Tap dancing with rhythm'

Looks like we lose the potential dividend but can expect a $15 million discretionary share buy-back programme immediately following completion of the Offer.

I can't see any good reason for R1 to be toying with the idea of a merger with TAP if it is entirely unfavourable to greater business opportunity.
Future market conditions will have been taken into account, no doubt about that.
Unless R1 are willing to progress the deal it cannot happen as things stand - there has to be some pragmatism about the greater combined business opportunity going forward and that will be reflected in a share price increase.
'Jam tomorrow' as per usual!

.

I think Eric Singer (founder of 'VIEX Capital Advisors') was trying to get his ducks in a row, as an activist in a faltering Yume, as R1 were also showing an interest.
Brian Mukherjee perhaps saw the writing on the wall and declined to be drawn in to a deal which would see Singer holding too many cards.
Ted Hastings of 'Perk' then took over control, in June 2017, only to be replaced by Mark Bonney (of MRV Communications) at the end of May 2018.
Tosca were of course behind the dismissal of both Brian and Ted, not sure what Ted did to get in the way of the ambitions of Yume/Viex but perhaps, like Brian, he was just unwilling to ‘play ball’.

R1 are now in the process of being absorbed into TAP.

Quite a dizzying ride, with more to come...

R1 first stated their intention to offer a deal for Yume in early September 2018 and the deal concluded in early February 2018.
So, no rush for Tosca to start piling in just yet surely?

I really don't expect a buyback to make a whole lot of difference - love to see a long-term sustained rise in the sp but market forces are the chief driver.
Maybe see a blip that fizzles out - what's all excitement about - clutching at straws.
If R1 can't find better opportunities for the cash then a buyback is proof enough that they are not planning a major acquisition.

Not sure why Yume gave a special dividend to its shareholders just before the R1 acquisition, perhaps technical reasons. It would seem strange if R1 gave us all a dividend and then announced a company had tendered a bid for 'our' takeover. Sort of implies that it's compensation: "Here we go boys, a few quid before we're shafted by the marauding pirates."

R1 has a 'free-float' of shares available to the public, on the open market, amounting to approx. 70m.
If R1 were to buy back shares there would be a 'float-shrinkage' of however many £10m would buy, assuming they used that amount.
It doesn't look like Yume's buyback did much for its sp but I also don't know what its 'free float' was prior to their buyback.

Of course a buyback also reduces the reserves available for other activities...

From what I understand that 1GW_ is saying,

R1 is sitting on enough cash to do both a buyback, on the strength of the consolidated balance sheet and a special dividend on the strength of retained earnings.
Both may well be subject to M&A negotiations and of course timing will always be a factor.

I seem to remember in July 2017 RhythmOne's 'Reduction of Capital' raised around £140m, as a distributable reserve.
Could some of this be used or is it all 'ring-fenced' for a special dividend one day?
I'd rather have the cash sooner rather than later if that is the case, it seems a lot of money just to be sitting there.
Assuming it is not just an accounting adjustment...

Most of the shares are held by institutional investors who would presumably want R1 to offer a premium to part with them. If R1 does indeed offer a premium them the sp should rise.
Such a fixed price tender offer to the Institutional investors would show that the company believes the shares are undervalued.
But where do R1 get the money from? By increasing debt?

TV is still the undisputed leader, specifically in brand advertising campaigns.
Search advertising (which is a huge chunk of what is called “digital”) isn’t like advertising at all, it’s physical availability.
Google and eBay are not traditional Brand Advertisers.
Television is still the most-used medium for brand advertising specifically and for media spends in general.

TV is nowhere close to dying, which might prove even more true as GDPR takes effect and limits the use of consumer-tracking and marketing surveillance, as a backlash is mounting against profiling consumers for the purposes of targeted direct response ads.

stt1,
If a company is found to be failing in certain areas, re- GDPR compliance, it will be given notification and a chance to get its act together, especially if some 'grey-areas' are involved.
I wouldn't get hung up about all of the GDPR stuff out there, it's of passing interest to hear about the big boys getting fined but any and every infringement can become arduous to wade through.

Pictorial graphs and charts can be much quicker easier to digest when presenting data of a tedious nature.