PJ
Internal disputes?? WTH is going on??
Haha I happened to be in the forum when that email came out. I wondered how long it would take for someone to start this up. I think we have all been feeling a different vibe from PTT in the most recent weeks/months. This may be the result of that. Hopefully they figure it out and we get back to the business at hand (making $$$). All startups go through something along the way.
Cessation Of PTT Services
Good afternoon Customers,
We know that you were expecting a new pick from PTT Capital today, but unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide it to you. The co-founders of PTT Capital are in the process of resolving internal disputes regarding the business, which has prevented us from providing you with our services. We are working hard to resolve these issues and hope to provide an update as soon as we can. We will do so as soon as we have more information to share.
Sincerely,
The PTT Capital Team
got this from mark from seeking alpha:
Major Updates (Dec 18, 2015) 0 comments
Dec 18, 2015 12:13 PM
Hi,
I expect to be providing some major news / updates in the near-future. To ensure that you receive them, simply send me an email here on Seeking Alpha with your email address. I will add you to my personal emailing list.
Kindest Regards,
Mark G.
While we're all in the mood for wild speculation, here's my “moonshot” of a guess:
The only other co-founder I am aware of is Ian Karnell. We used to receive PTT related emails from him in the beginning, but nothing for a very long time. A couple of weeks ago, Jeremi Karnell (his brother) sent a marketing message to the whole PTT base advertising the other “research subscription services” provided by “Montext LLC”. Montext LLC is run by Ian & Jeremi Karnell and it provides services for analysts like Mark to distribute and monetise their content. PTT uses Montext's services, infact PTT is Montext's main case study for signing other analysts. I don't know if Mark is also involved in Montext LLC, but if he's not, then I can't imagine he was happy having his whole membership base receiving a marketing message about other research subscription services. Especially when his pick performance is at its lowest since inception PTT Case Study Pic
Not sure about y'all but I paid for a “Lifetime” subscription, not a few years subscription that when the market goes bad and becomes overbought we bail out, take the money and run. Guess that's one way to make money in a down market. Lifetime Research subscription is not was it was billed out to be in the beginning, slowly things got taken away that were supposed to be a part of it. Now we may have nothing at all. That will be the final kick in the pants.
It's very odd. This happened to GigaOM but they went bankrupt in part due to poor money management. This doesn't seem to be the case at PTT but it might be. Still it's quite a breach of trust and duty to subscribers. If there is a way that can resolve their “dispute” and continue with the service it would be nice.
@Kris. That's what I'm banking on too. I'm trying to take the lessons I've learned through the methodology and not over react to this news (because when I did that with trades it hurt). I'm going to relax and enjoy my Friday and wait for them to put out a clarifying statement. I WILL NOT by touching any of my positions based on this drama. This is a business to them and I don't believe they'll do anything that would greatly jeopardize their future either. (Just my opinion). Don't get me wrong it is not ideal but I'm trying to take it in stride.
Yes i'm not going to sell anything either, that would be stupid, however I do want to cancel my subscription here and follow on Seeking Alpha instead. Don't want PTT to charge me one last time and claim it was “automatic” and out of there hands or some of bs which is common in companies when they fold.
Like someone said Cessation of PTT Service means it is being stopped. and they could easily lock you out of this website at a moments notice. Given the notification by Ian or the other guy of other services, that could technically be a breach of confidentiality and we could all file a lawsuit. Against Mark and Ian. But let's see what Mark has to say if there is another update. Otherwise within a few day I would not be surprised if nobody has access to this site.
Merry Christmas. Like most places they fire you just before the holidays. Cheers!
for anyone who is interested. I found no way to cancel subscription or delete my card from subscription. Instead, all i could do was to change my billing name and address so the bank will reject it if they try to charge. If a charge is somehow successful then I will dispute it. The fact that I can not easily cancel my subscription is shady and pisses me off and if i knew this before that alone may have been enough for me to cancel.
An interesting comment from Mark which can be seen on his SA instablog:
“ I'm an analyst and don't even have access to PTT's bank accounts (and never have).”
You can find the quote here:
seekingalpha.com/…/instablog
@Kris. That's what I'm banking on too. I'm trying to take the lessons I've learned through the methodology and not over react to this news (because when I did that with trades it hurt). I'm going to relax and enjoy my Friday and wait for them to put out a clarifying statement. I WILL NOT by touching any of my positions based on this drama. This is a business to them and I don't believe they'll do anything that would greatly jeopardize their future either. (Just my opinion). Don't get me wrong it is not ideal but I'm trying to take it in stride.
Yes i'm not going to sell anything either, that would be stupid, however I do want to cancel my subscription here and follow on Seeking Alpha instead. Don't want PTT to charge me one last time and claim it was “automatic” and out of there hands or some of bs which is common in companies when they fold.
Like someone said Cessation of PTT Service means it is being stopped. and they could easily lock you out of this website at a moments notice. Given the notification by Ian or the other guy of other services, that could technically be a breach of confidentiality and we could all file a lawsuit. Against Mark and Ian. But let's see what Mark has to say if there is another update. Otherwise within a few day I would not be surprised if nobody has access to this site.
Merry Christmas. Like most places they fire you just before the holidays. Cheers!
for anyone who is interested. I found no way to cancel subscription or delete my card from subscription. Instead, all i could do was to change my billing name and address so the bank will reject it if they try to charge. If a charge is somehow successful then I will dispute it. The fact that I can not easily cancel my subscription is shady and pisses me off and if i knew this before that alone may have been enough for me to cancel.
An interesting comment from Mark which can be seen on his SA instablog:
“ I'm an analyst and don't even have access to PTT's bank accounts (and never have).”
You can find the quote here:
Yup I'm aware… But this seems very much like the dump part of a pump and dump scheme… I really want to believe that all of Mark's picks are great – however with the losses I've generated with GLUU, AERO and ITMSF … this is leading me to think about doing something irrational such as dropping my positions in these three securities…
I've closed my position on ITMSF based purely on the speculative nature of the company that requires Mark's expertise. Without a window on when services will start back up, I'm not comfortable with my knowledge of the space (ITMSF). I understand GLUU, MATR, FIT and will keep those positions open. I don't care if ITMSF goes to $1.00 tomorrow, I hope it does. But today's actions are in no way good for anyone, customers or partners. Imagine getting an email like that from Facebook, your fantasy football site, your bank. Bad business.
After 8 years or so I'm done with investing. Got fried big time last year with GTAT (Margolis only got me doubling my position in GTAT) but in the end CEO TG mislead everyone (blatantly lied to investors) and I was left holding the bag while this s…cker got away with millions. Got into intermap just because of MG's analysis and it now appears that there was never any megadeal, just a scam … You can be MG and do all the analysis you want, in the end it just doesn't matter. You just can't trust management out there … Hard lesson learned right there. 2016 will be the year I sell what little is left and focus on other aspects of life. PTT cessation of services was just the icing on the cake.
I just looked at Montext LLC and suddenly I feel like I was used and that this investor friendly service called PTT was nothing but a money sucking machine instead of the investment service that it should have been.
montext.com/“In the 5-years prior to launch in 2014, Mark Gomes built an enormous following (thousands of investors) by providing free research samples to the general public Via SeekingAlpha.com. Within the first three months on the Montext platform, Mark was able to drive over $500,000 in subscription revenue. PTTResearch.com ended 2014 doing over $2.2 Million in subscription revenue (required no investment on his part other than ongoing content).”
I had made the decision to let this subscription go when up for renewal in march. Maybe my choice was nicely made for me and I can get some money back.
If you review the profiles of those on the Montext site and check their level or experience that should be a red flag for most. Montext is a way to monetize your platform. I think Mark had a good thing going and maybe he does not like the fact that PTT's website is along side that of far less reputable letter writers. And maybe when he stepped down as CEO he lost control of the PTT site. And you have to ask if any of these letter writers have any SEC licenses or any real experience. Mark had a solid background and a track record of winners. Hope he move to a new hosting platform and continues as Pipeline Data, his original company.
This is so disappointing to me. I really have to say that this is just terrible. The fact that Gomes isn't on here to man up to everything that is happening speaks a lot about what is happening here. I unfortunately did do a lifetime subscription and I feel quite used. This is disgusting.
For those who paid lifetime subscription and will be at a loss we may have recourse to recoup our losses. Please email me directly at JMCA...@GMAIL.COM
I am waiting for some kind of communication from GOMES and from the company but if they keep all of our “lifetime subscription” fees and dont offer some kind of compensation then we may have recourse. Again please email me directly and we can discuss off-line. This forum may be shut down very soon.
thanks. I created a google group.
MG had personally promised me, in an email, that if the business stopped prior to realizing the value, I would get a refund. Just an FYI. I seriously doubt I would ever see any of that $$…Those were the days that MG was engaged with people in this part of the business. I just took a look at his SA, and he is giving a lot more info there – I seriously wish I just stuck with the free service – although I did make so nice $$ early on from the early picks…
I have the email still:
“ As for your question, we plan to be around for a long time. My other business (Pipeline Data) has been around for more than 8 years and still going strong. That being said, if we decided to close PTT Research before 3 years, we would refund a prorated portion of your Lifetime membership fee, making Lifetime risk-free relative to our annual subscription offering.
Kindest Regards,
Mark G. ”
what if this forum is disabled to all of us ? how about making a google-group/yahoo group so that in case we cant chat with each other we have a forum to interact ? I know it is difficult to see who will be added in that group but it can be a Plan B for Lifetime Subscribers – incase…?