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Message: new interview with George

Just thought you'd like to see what SKS consulting thought was wrong here and what thy did about it:

  1. Sr. Mgmt. & Board chasing NASDAQ Listing
  2. Former CEO hired 5 finance directors in 18 months
  3. Company overpaid for bad acquisitions

  4. Revenues decreased 19% from prior year

  5. Acquired company shut down after 6 months

  6. Parent company treating newly acquired company poorly, creating un-repairable damage with clients and vendors

  7. Clients, vendors, employees, & Investors expecting bankruptcy

  8. Management used method of robbing one company to fund the other, weakening both

  9. Management increased corporate over-head at a time when they were losing business

  10. Management hired unqualified people externally, ignoring in-house talent that was more appropriate

  11. Company had unclear & unbelievable strategy

Action Steps:

  1. Immediately eliminated CEO, and made 26 employees redundant to decrease burn rate

  2. Took interim positions as President, CEO & Board Member

  3. Initiated immediate 2 day strategic planning session

  4. Separated business into two divisions, requiring them to stand on their own merits

  5. Made two more rounds of redundancies to right size both divisions

  6. Moved office locations& negotiated early termination of both leases

  7. Focused sales efforts on “hero clients”

  8. Company headcount reduced from 115 on 5/31/07 to 60 within 1 year right sizing the business

  9. Eliminated old BOD and replaced with 3 new members

  10. Moved from NASDAQ to OTCBB with seamless integration

  11. Hired FD, Sales Managers & Strategic Development head

  12. Sold underperforming division to focus on company’s core business and path to profitability

Results:

  1. Within three quarters achieved first EBITDA and cash flow positive quarter in over 5 years

  2. EBITDA improvement of $10 million in 18 months

  3. Reduced corporate overhead by $2.5 million

  4. Move of offices created $500k per year in savings

  5. Obtained shareholder approval for reverse split

  6. Increased number of authorized shares to ensure company corrected default on covenants with institutional investors

  7. After meeting milestones, secured $10 million in capital

  8. Avoided bankruptcy, and finally stabilized stock price

http://www.sksconsulting.us/futuremediacasestudy.html

We await o see if 8. above is going to be a reality or a pipe dream. Either way, any concerns I may have had about being too explicit in my criticisms fade away in trhe light of the blunt SKS comments above....

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