Ann: Further Technical Update, page-38

Darrenrr,

I was also surprised to read that Van Buskirk will leave the company at the end of april instead of end of october.

MVB has 9,5 millions options expiring on october 27 2022.

Those options are part of an employees incentive scheme.
It means that if you leave the company without having exercised your options, they are lost.

But, there are exceptions.

In the April 22 notice of GM, we can read that on Schedule 1 (the part about Exercise Period) that options could continue to vest until expiry date, even after termination of employment, if the Board decide so (in its absolute discretion).




The same rule should apply to all employees, and the Board has probably decided that MVB could still exercise his options later this year even if he leaves the company at the end of this month.

The reasons for leaving end of april instead instead of remaining on a part time job until the end of october coudl be as follow :
- Saving arround 10,000 dollars each month.
- The job is done and he has no more work to do.


The job is done ?

Guido Arnout is still arround but, probably, this is just not to frighten investors with a too radical change (his salary doesn't justify a daily presence).

Mike Van Buskirk is leaving the company in less than a week.

So, who will do the job ?
Who will use the new test equipment ?

Ting Yen ?
We don't know if he even receives a salary.

A contractor ?
But who will supervise his work ? KH ?

From the simple point of view of human resources, this company has ceased its activity, and the remaining staff (WvdH and KH) are here to sell it.

They probably contracted every remaining technical job to external organisations like Imec and Stanford (buying Stanford a new testing equipement could have been part of the deal), but with no close supervision.

I could only imagine regular meetings with those highly interested third parties (imec and Stanford), that decide by themselves what is to be done and how, to reach the prescribed result.

But I can't see any testing being done in house by 4DS peoples.
In this respect, the 4DS job is done.

That means they consider that what remains is pure execution.
With all due caveats (it's a Spec), the result is already known.

What are the consequences of that ?


What could be the next steps ?

"Out of Fab" is july. But what could happen between now and july ?

There is something in Schedule 1 of the GM notice - about the conditions of vesting acceleration - that could give us an idea.



Note the item (V)

"The board forms the view (acting reasonnably) that one of the events set out in (I) - (V) is likely to occur"

By creating a sell bonus pool and definning precisely the conditions for an early exercise of options, they have carefully organised the way the money will be devided.

And that's an important step before a takeover or an orderly unwinding of the company (if they decide to sell the IP).


Could something happen before July ?

The only real task remaining is to find a buyer.

Imo, the only circumstances where a company would like to buy 4DS in May or june is that this company would have a precise knowledge of the advancement of the technology and decide that they will have a better price acting know than waiting until August or September.

Only Western digital would be in that position.

But we know that KH is already calling friends and relations in every sector of the industry.
So, something could happen before july.


Not a takeover, but more probaby the announcement of discussions and sharing of testing results with interested parties.

Why should they keep that secret ?
Because they would not want to desplease Western Digital ?

This has not the same importance as before.
4DS is at the end of the road. If WDC don't renew the JDA, we just don't care, because the research job is done.
We just want to sell the tech and we don't need WDC for that, imo.



CONCLUSIONS

The recent announcements showed that :

1 - The company has taken all dispositions to be sold in an orderly fashion.
READY TO BE SOLD

2 - The human resources situation shows that no technical or scientific job will be conducted at 4DS until the selling of the company. All will be done by contractors under the distant supervision of the chairman and the "advisor" (GA) => The job is considered done.
I see no other way to explain the immediat departure of the last enginneer.
THE JOB IS CONSIDERED DONE

3 - The company is saving money, because the selling process could last several months.
It means that, for KH, the sooner the better. The management would not want to be in a situation where potentials bidders will just to wait for 4DS to runout of money and be forced to accept a low ball offer.
PROSPECTION FOR BIDDERS IS NOW THE MOST URGENT TASK.

=> Talking with people and sharing already available results has to start now

=> We will probably not see a takeover or scheme of arrangement before Q3, but we will see a totally new public relation campaign. The technology will be unveiled.
( but only after KH has secured his 30 milions options - end of May)

The 4DS story is coming to an end , and that creats a totally different situation.
Communication with the industry becomes vital.
Secrecy and keeping good relations with our JDA partner are less important.

May, if the JDA is terminated,
and most probably June (after KH has his options) should see the great 4DS on market rerate.


All imo (and I am wrong most of the time)