3 Directors invest $333,333 each following successful Warner Bros trial

This is the headline for me. I've been in and out on this stock a few times over the past 2 years. Now I'm in again I'll share what I've found:

A good place to start is slide 18 from the latest investor presentation:

Successful Outcome
• Linius VVE provides both unprecedented insight into how video is watched and shared, but alsoframe-level metadata and insights, driving a truly personalized experience.
• Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of results by independent party indicate that theperformance of virtual video is almost indistinguishable from traditional video.

Next Steps
• Continuing to pursue multiple commercial opportunities, both with Warner Bros. and with thebroader Warner Media group and AT&T

The success of the trial was announced with the ASX as a price-sensitive announcement. Yet it does not appear on Linius' website. Isn't that fascinating!

Also, I've just done a search on Twitter and Linius has said plenty about its blockchain and other developments, but did not even mention the success of the Warner trial on Twitter. Look around 29 March and see for yourself. Zip.

Also, look at the dull and underwhelming language used in the 29 March announcement:

• "Linius completes technology trial with Warner Bros."
• "The trial verified that high and standard definition movies will stream virtually on demand and met standard industry quality metrics."

Why?

Let's come back to this one...

Warner Media's new streaming service

We know this is coming this year, many have said 'Fall' this year (in the US). But what is very exciting here are the dates of key Warner Media & AT&T decisions following success of the trial with Linius.

So 29 March 2019 Linius announces the success (oh I mean "completion") of the trial with Warner Bros. The word 'success' not used until the latest investor presentation. ie. The presentation used for the latest capital raising which included 3 Linius Directors investing $333,333 each at $0.035 and Robert Kirby the Chairman of Village Roadshow investing a (for now) undisclosed amount (at $0.035).

Robert Kirby doesn't invest small amounts:
$500,000 at $0.05 in September 2016
$500,000 at $0.05 in July 2017
(Oh and let's not forget Village Roadshow's $1m investment as well)

Now, following the "Successful" Warner Bros trial, Robert Kirby is investing again. How much? If history is any guide, $500,000. My personal guess is $1m. If our Directors are putting in $333,333 each and if Robert Kirby is bound to the same non-disclosure rules that they are (because like them he knows too much about the path forward) then this could be the last buying window he has for quite a while.

By the way, isn't it fascinating that we the market aren't told how much each of the Directors are putting in until the release of non-price-sensitiveannouncement containing the General Meeting Resolutions to approve the placement?

But wait, there's more!

There have been tectonic rumblings in the media space in recent months:

EU clinches copyright overhaul deal, tech giants in focus

"The European Union is set to rewrite its two-decades-old copyright rules which will force Google and Facebook to share revenue with the creative industries and remove copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram."

"Under the new rules, Google and other online platforms will have to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online."

https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/657741/eu-clinches-copyright-overhaul-deal-tech-giants-focus/

Thank you to other posters who alerted me to the above, and I agree, accomplishing this will be impossible without Linius.

MPAA “Dramatically Expanding” ACE Global Anti-Piracy Coalition

https://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-dramatically-expanding-ace-global-anti-piracy-coalition-190507/

'From enemies to allies': Google removes piracy websites from search results (published 9 hours ago)

"Village Roadshow chief executive Graham Burke said there had so far been 832 sites blocked by the multibillion-dollar search platform, as part of a new collaborative approach between Google, internet service providers and content owners."

"Now, Google has agreed to 'de-index' these websites when they have been blocked by internet providers regardless of whether or not the court order applies to the search giant.

"This means we, as content owners, will be able to avoid the expense, effort, time and uncertainty of going to court," Mr Burke said.

"We've gone from being enemies to being allies ... because I believe Google is doing the right thing by Australians," he said.

disallowed/business/companies/from-enemies-to-allies-google-removes-piracy-websites-from-search-results-20190510-p51m55.html

So now Village has an "ally" in Google? This is a major tectonic shift.

But wait, there's more!

WarnerMedia Pulls Out of Audience-Targeting Alliance Open A.P.

"WarnerMedia is going its own way when it comes to helping advertisers find specific groups of TV-watchers.

The company, a founding member of the audience-targeting media alliance known as Open A.P., said Friday it would withdraw from the group, citing its desire to pursue its own strategy under owner AT&T. AT&T purchased Time Warner in June for more than $80 billion, and the company has its own unit devoted to providing data to marketers that helps them narrowly target audience segments."

"In September of last year, the company unveiled a unit it called Xandr, which is devoted to using digital technology to deliver commercials tailored to specific consumers and households.There has been no big announcement about advertising alliances from Xandr to date, but its executives are scheduled to speak in detail to advertisers in May.."

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/warnermedia-pulls-audience-targeting-open-ap-advertising-1203193598/

Finally, we've all seen Linius' blockchain live demo and know that central to one dimension of Linius' tech adoption is the concept of a digital wallet:

https://vimeo.com/325618806

Village Roadshow launches digital payments overhaul

"The entertainment giant behind much of Australia’s anti-piracy push, Village Roadshow, has unveiled plans to unify payments processing across its segmented cinema and theme park operations

The infrastructure overhaul is set to be delivered over the next six months, and will accommodate the use of digital wallets."

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/village-roadshow-launches-digital-payments-overhaul-514763

"Six months" up yet? How about news coming from WarnerMedia, our "partner" in May?

Warner Bros. to Take On HBO and Turner’s Program Sales in Restructuring (EXCLUSIVE) (published 4 days ago)

"WarnerMedia is shaking up program sales, with HBO and U.S. Turner programming falling under Jeffrey Schlesinger’s Warner Bros. distribution unit.

Schlesinger is president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution, which will now handle global sales of HBO Enterprises and Turner’s U.S. live-action and animation titles

The new structure also sees HBO Home Entertainment transferring to Warner Bros. Worldwide Home Entertainment under the leadership of its president, Jim Wuthrich."

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/warner-bros-taking-on-hbo-and-turner-programming-sales-1203208770/


A few things are very obvious in my opinion:

• Linius' biggest source of revenue in the near future will be it's "multiple commercial opportunities, both with Warner Bros. and with thebroader Warner Media group and AT&T" that it is currently pursuing.
• WarnerMedia's streaming service is coming very soon.
• WarnerMedia has consolidated HBO and Turner under that one service also.
• WarnerMedia has withdrawn from Open A.P. to deploy its own unit Xandr to "narrowly target audience segments"
• 3 Linius Directors are each putting in $333,333 and Robert Kirby is likely investing $500,000 or perhaps $1m following successful completion of the Warner Bros. trial.

For the record the current market cap is $28.33m (or thereabouts) and the SP is $0.028, representing a 20% discount to the price that our 3 Directors and Robert Kirby are paying as part of this current capital raise. The current capital raise itself was a 18.7% discount to the 15 day VWAP.

Finbar O'Hanlon / Phoenix Myrrh by my calculations now have only 4.42% left in Linius and is no longer a substantial holder.

Gerard Bongiorno (Linius Chairman) was Group Special Projects Manager at Village Roadshow Ltd.

All of the above is some of my own research and just part of why Linius was a compelling re-entry opportunity for me last week. It's my opinion only so please do your own research.