Superhard,Do you think it was Askin, Faull and Dunmore's plan to...

Superhard,

Do you think it was Askin, Faull and Dunmore's plan to get rid of JH, and plant three more people onto the board who will vote as their own block?

Faull has decided it's too hard.

Askin and Dunmore, plus Esholtz, now have 3 people who are likely to always agree voting together. They can either agree with Cottee, or find themselves in the cold. They will be powerless.

And I'm sure that Cottee has learned from his last couple of boards. He brought two people with him this time, so he controls.

You say that CB didn't offer Cottee the CEO position - of course he didn't! The CEO is decided by the board. Now Bob may have said to Cottee something along the lines of "the board can choose anyone for CEO of course", but it would have been wrong to determine who the CEO is.

The CEO is a board decision. It should have been decided after the board was re-elected, if the board was changing. Bob did the right thing here.

This is a WIN by shareholders. Absolutely, without a doubt. ALL boards are now on notice - one or two disgruntled shareholders, an email address, a phone and PERSISTANCE is enough to get a board thrown out.

The Shareholders of CTP are now awake. They have realised that they have power, they elect the board, and they can fire the board. We will no longer sit on our hands doing nothing.

The rebel's (hate that term) first choice for the board has agreed to take on the board and the position of CEO. That's better than they wanted. How could it not be a win?

This action was not about Bob's ego. It's about the ego of the board. They were offered the opportunity to quietly resign, which would have allowed a new board to be installed efficiently. Instead their egos held them in place. They felt that no shareholder had the right to demand things from them.

How wrong were they? The board have been forced into a fighting witdrawal. Unfortunately I suspect that their retreat hasn't been as successful as they might have hoped.

CB, when this started I said I would buy you a beer at the end. I haven't forgotten.

- Karl