Off topic but in response to Greenleaf's query.HotCopper was...

Off topic but in response to Greenleaf's query.

HotCopper was founded by one person in the mid 90's - Ron Gully.
It was initially run from Geelong.
Ron was a nice enough guy, with flaws like all of us.
However, he did see the potential of the internet for sharing information.

Tony certainly played a role in listing HC and has ended up with HC now but on my first reading of this, his role is overstated.
The initial funding etc for the IPO came from HC users.
HC was only listed for two months, and is the shortest ever listing on the ASX

If you do a search on Ron Gully Hotcopper there is some more info.


This is from Wikipedia
HotCopper started by Ron Gully as a bulletin board in 1994 and then went to the web in 1995. The first recorded listing in The Web Archive is 1998.[13]
HotCopper is named after "hot" 1c and 2c shares which derive their name from the 1c and 2c coins in Australia which were made of copper (no longer in circulation) i.e. "Hot" "Copper". The original HotCopper Logo was an image of a 1c and 2c coin.
The website first came to prominence in 1997 when an oil discovery in Manila was reported in a post on HotCopper generating 45,000 hits.[14] The post on HotCopper caused the stock to run. The company reported to the ASX, after a price query, that the price movement was due to the HotCopper post.
By December 1999, all posts were vetted by a moderator who was a trained investment adviser to ensure the site did not give investment advice. HotCopper was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in December 1999[15] by Tony Cunningham of stockbroker D J Carmichael, who bought stake in the company from founder Ron Gully.[16][17] In January 2000, HotCopper became a division of Bourse Data after it was acquired by the company for $11 million.[15] The acquisition made HotCopper a division of Bourse Data. In 2001, Bourse Data merged with St.George Bank, which reprivatized and sold HotCopper to private interests.[18][19] The Financial Arena then sold HotCopper to Perth-based company Report Card Pty Ltd through a deal brokered by Tony Cunningham in 2004.[16][20]
(this deal could be termed a steal by Tony - well done to him.)

I also found this on HC
HotCopper - Australian Stock Market (ASX) Forum
Discussion forum for investors. By HotCopper Australia.
HotCopper was started in 1995 by Internet Entrepreneur Ron Gully. The name originated from Ron Gully's wish to have a forum that dealt with HOT Penny Stocks.
It was migrated from Ron Gully's original page that was located at www.wp.com/rongully to the web in 1995 by Ron Gully from Geelong. In 1999 Ron Gully listed it on the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) and was the shortest ever listing (not in administration) being only listed for two months before being taken over by Bourse Data Limited. Bourse was then taken over by St George Bank. Hotcopper was then sold following the internet crash to The Financial Arena Pty Ltd. Under their stewardship the site was reduced to a few hard core users. In 2004 it was purchased by many of the 1999 owners under Report Card Pty Ltd for a fraction of the takeover price paid by Bourse Data Limited. The site has now grown from 1,000 users a day to over 20,000 a day and is now a real threat to Fairfax and Newscorps finacial websites.