Is CuDeco (ASX: CDU) executive chairman Wayne McCrae about to commit one of the most catastrophic investor and public relations mistakes a public company boss can make?
Sadly, it seems the answer is yes.
McCrae has started legal action to uncover the identity of a CuDeco shareholder who criticised him on HotCopper. He claims the posts were defamatory of him.
In response to McCrae’s application, the Federal Court in Brisbane has ordered HotCopper to provide the CuDeco chief with the true identity of the CuDeco shareholder.
Armed with these details, McCrae will be in a position to start legal action against his company’s shareholder, presumably for defamation.
Whether McCrae chooses to go this path only time will tell.
While McCrae waits for his keenly sought-after details to arrive, Diary wonders whether he would be wise to wade through the pages of corporate history in this area.
We suspect he would do well to start with the matter of a chap by the name of Craig Marshall, who, as the head of Empire Oil & Gas, took legal action against his company’s shareholders over their criticism of him on HotCopper.
The legal action marked the start of a disastrous series of events for Marshall, who eventually resigned from Empire following a push by the company’s biggest shareholder to oust him.
And this whole ugly chapter remains unresolved, with Marshall set to face the court in a bitter dispute over hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred during the battle but paid by Empire.
Suing your own shareholders is a path riddled with potential disasters and widely considered a one-way ticket to self-destruction for company chiefs.
This is even more the case when the company has a share price record such as CuDeco. The stock has crashed from $4.60 less than three years ago to $1.28 today, a fact which is sure to further infuriate shareholders.
Diary suspects this one has a long way to run.
Sadly, it seems the answer is yes.
McCrae has started legal action to uncover the identity of a CuDeco shareholder who criticised him on HotCopper. He claims the posts were defamatory of him.
In response to McCrae’s application, the Federal Court in Brisbane has ordered HotCopper to provide the CuDeco chief with the true identity of the CuDeco shareholder.
Armed with these details, McCrae will be in a position to start legal action against his company’s shareholder, presumably for defamation.
Whether McCrae chooses to go this path only time will tell.
While McCrae waits for his keenly sought-after details to arrive, Diary wonders whether he would be wise to wade through the pages of corporate history in this area.
We suspect he would do well to start with the matter of a chap by the name of Craig Marshall, who, as the head of Empire Oil & Gas, took legal action against his company’s shareholders over their criticism of him on HotCopper.
The legal action marked the start of a disastrous series of events for Marshall, who eventually resigned from Empire following a push by the company’s biggest shareholder to oust him.
And this whole ugly chapter remains unresolved, with Marshall set to face the court in a bitter dispute over hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred during the battle but paid by Empire.
Suing your own shareholders is a path riddled with potential disasters and widely considered a one-way ticket to self-destruction for company chiefs.
This is even more the case when the company has a share price record such as CuDeco. The stock has crashed from $4.60 less than three years ago to $1.28 today, a fact which is sure to further infuriate shareholders.
Diary suspects this one has a long way to run.