Good question Durslowe and congratulations on making a decision...

Good question Durslowe and congratulations on making a decision about your investment, what matters is personal conviction on the risk/reward. I was thinking of drafting a fairly detailed response but thought better of it, conscious of boring you all. So summary:

1. read biographies of the board and management team on Newsat.com
2. I believe those people with their pedigree and relative experience know what it will take to pull the company round
3. I believe people mistake a challenging economic environment for poor performance
4. we hear most from David Ball, I like what he says, I like how he presents himself - he seems upstanding, I don't believe he would be party to a company that is allegedly run so poorly
5. we have a renewed governance policy complete with new non-exec directors
6. I note the mudslinging is coming from people now left the company and a certain Rudd engaged by same people - hardly surprising there is bad blood, a fact of life at junior level and senior level in any company when someone leaves under unpleasant circumstances

Comments regarding lavish expenses:

Of course expense accounts will get the heckles up when current performance is poor. However, show me a company that doesn't entertain its senior executives and customers. I don't work in the satellite industry but it is not too much of a stretch to believe that perception is extremely important in winning the favours of powerful potential customers in a global market. Naive to think otherwise

So why are we doing so poorly when promised so much? We have been hit hard by the current demand in the market place - we clearly have to manage that carefully. J2 was committed and may well turn into the bit-part success we expected. It is not easy to openly say we are struggling to win customers - again perceptions count and covenants in or funding arrangements are critical. People/Business in any walk of life gravitate towards what is perceived to be succesful 'success breeds success'.

In short we need to convince all that we still have a viable business. I think the team are doing everything humanly possible to achieve that objective. I will lose faith if I see some of those quality people on the board/executive decide it is time to go.

Amateurish biased reporting doesn't help the cause but in an odd way it may well strengthen their resolve in the long run.