Rush Limbaugh & Overstock.com’s Patrick Byrne: Misogynists getting their due
March 5, 2012 by William K. Wolfrum
Rush Limbaugh apparently isn’t the only one paying dearly for his misogynistic ways. Overstock.com boss Patrick Byrne, who has shown himself to be a first-class misogynist himself (“So, why exactly did you become a reporter? Giving Goldman traders blowjobs didn’t work out?” he once e-mailed business reporter Bethany McLean), is currently riding his Internet retailing company straight into the ground.
Via Sam Antar:
Last Friday, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) reported a fourth quarter net loss of $3.4 million compared to net income of $14.9 in the previous year’s fourth quarter. Its revenues declined 10% to $314.1 million compared to $348.9 million in the previous year’s fourth quarter. Details of the fourth quarter financial results were so bad, that Overstock.com did not present a full income statement for that quarter in its press release. Instead it only provided key metrics of its fourth quarter numbers and presented a full year income statement. For the entire year, Overstock.com reported a net loss of $19.4 million compared to net income of $13.9 million in the previous year. Its 2011 revenues decreased 3% to $1.054 billion compared to $1.090 billion in the previous year.As of December 31, 2011, the company reported a net working capital deficit (current assets less current liabilities) of $14.1 million. Overstock.com’s negative net working capital balance indicates that it’s having problems paying its bills as it entered into its traditionally weakest quarter of the year (the first quarter of 2012). Overstock.com common stock closed at $6.11 per share, down $0.77 per share as investors reacted to the company’s horrible earnings report.
This is the latest setback for Byrne & Overstock.com, which has spent years “cooking their books” and misleading investors. In 2011, OSTK managed to make one of the year’s greatest PR blunders in trying to change its name to “O.co” (not a typo, that’s the name).
The recent report came as a surprise to analysts. Via Reuters:
Analysts, on average, had expected the company to earn 45 cents a share, on revenue of $377.6 million.
One wonders who these analysts are. For those that have kept their eyes on Byrne – a donor to the Swiftboat attacks on John Kerry and a fierce supporter of a failed school voucher initiative in Utah – this collapse of his company has been easy to predict for some time now. And it appears no matter how hard he tries to libel & slander business journalists (he’s currently being sued for libel in Canada), his company will pay the ultimate price for his mismanagement.
–WKW
Oh God. I love Overstock. Now I cannot in good conscience ever shop there again. Wth is wrong with people? Bullies, misogynists, etc etc. I asked a Fox minion on twitter to tell me, politics aside, if women deserved respect. His answer? To block me. I see the GOP as a clown car hurtling toward a cliff with Limbaugh’s foot on the gas.
Bill’s posts on this subject usually summon Byrne’s puppeteers within a day or two.
In the meantime, I think I’ll go do a little naked short selling. Turns out, you don’t actually have to take off your clothes to do this. Life is about learning.
Well you don’t HAVE to take your clothes off I guess.
Darn it, i didn’t know Overstock.com was run by a bully, misogynist right wing idiot. Oh well, I also enjoy shopping there, but will have to forgo or pay a price with my conscience. With their Fair Trade section, I thought they were a, at least, partly enlightened company. My mistake.
I dealt with Overstock on a couple of occasions, was disappointed each time. Their prices aren’t great, the service was absolutely terrible. I wasn’t aware of the CEO’s political leanings, nor his vile misogyny, so I’ll definitely not do business there again.
Well, that ends my Overstock shopping. Wish I had known earlier. There should be a list.
Byrne will take all the corporate welfare breaks afforded to a drowning business, write offs, etc., so he’ll survive nicely. The little, peon stockholders will not. In theory Overstock looks great, but I’ve ordered only two things from them, and both were CHEAP QUALITY made in CHINA knock offs. I never got a good feeling from the site, and it’s very important to find out where the goods you’re ordering come from……just saying it’s an import is not good enough for me. Their throw pillows smell bad, and are made from raunchy materials.
[...] Byrne, focusing on his love for intimidating and slandering financial journalists, his constant misleading of investors, and other [...]