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| {{Infobox |
{{Infobox company | ||
| | |
| name = Fund.com Inc. | ||
| | |
| logo = ] | ||
| | traded_as = {{OTCPink|FNDM|type=noinfo}} | |||
| |homepage = | |||
| | foundation = {{start date|2007}} | |||
| | location_city = ] | |||
| | location_country = US | |||
| | key_people = Jason Galanis<ref name=bi_jason>{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-past-may-be-a-prologue-for-fundcom-and-weston-capital-2011-4 |title=The Past May Be A Prologue For Fund.com And Weston Capital |date=April 20, 2011 |publisher=Business Insider Australia}}</ref> | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''Fund.com Inc.''' |
'''Fund.com Inc.''' is a US-based financial services information publishing company and ] that focuses on the ] industry. Its aims were to provide a destination website for investments, including ]s, ]s, money market funds, ]s (ETFs), ]s, ]s, commodity funds and other types of pooled investment vehicles. | ||
| The company saw a significant decline in its share price after a soured business deal in late 2009 after which it has only traded in the “]”. Some of its senior executives were connected to Westmoore Capital from which Fund.com raised $1.5 million in 2008. Westmoore Capital was closed down by the ] for running a $53 million ].<ref name=bi_jason /> | |||
| ==Company Structure and Management== | |||
| ==History== | |||
| Fund.com and its 60% owned subsidiary AdvisorShares make money by earning management fees on assets under management (AUM). AdvisorShares earns varying levels of basis points on all monies invested in its actively managed ETFs, such as NYSE: DENT (Dent Tactical) paid monthly on an annualized basis. Fund.com receives 60% of the net fees retained by AdvisorShares. Fund.com also receives advertising revenue from its website(s). | |||
| The company was formed through a reverse takeover in January 2008 of ''Eastern Services Group'', a state and local tax advisor for Nevada casinos. After the merger the name was changed to Fund.com<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=FNDM |title=Fund.com Inc. (FNDM) -Other OTC |publisher=Yahoo Finance |date=June 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=bi_jason /> | |||
| ===Domain name purchase=== | |||
| Fund.com is led by Greg Webster, its CEO. Prior to Fund.com, Greg was CEO of HSBC Securities and a board member of HSBC Wealth Management. As CEO, he was responsible for over 400,000 client accounts, $32 billion in client assets and 4,000 FINRA registered representatives. | |||
| ⚫ | In March 2008, Clek Media announced that it had brokered the sale of the domain name “Fund.com” for nearly $10 million in an all-cash transaction, to the company Fund.com Inc. Although never confirmed by the company itself, the purchase price would have been the highest recorded price paid for a web site domain up to that point, followed by Porn.com ($9.5 million) ] ($7.5 million) and Diamond.com ($7.5 million).<ref></ref> However, some industry insiders have questioned the validity of the amount reported.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.domainnamenews.com/domain-sales/fundcom-sells-for-a-world-record-10-million/1476 |title=Fund.com Sells for a Record $10 Million |date=December 3, 2008 |publisher=DomainNameNews}}</ref> | ||
| ===AdvisorShares acquisition=== | |||
| ==Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)== | |||
| In 2008 the company purchased a 60% stake in ] for an initial payment of $275,000, on October 31, 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=AdvisorShares Investments, LLC Purchase and Contribution Agreement|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/containers/fix230/1335795/000121390008002161/f8k110608ex10i_fund.htm}}</ref> Fund.com agreed to pay Noah Hamman, who founded AdvisorShares, a base salary of $240,000 and a minimum guaranteed bonus of $100,000 per year after the acquisition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Employment Agreement|url=http://www.lawinsider.com/contracts/1brpzGDPlgmtiTxQtJVuBN/fundcom-inc/employment-agreement/2008-11-06|publisher=Law Insider}}</ref> Just a week later on November 7, 2008 Noah Hamman's former company, Arrow Funds, commenced arbitration proceedings against Hamman and AdvisorShares for usurping Arrow's intellectual property including its business plan in establishing AdvisorShares. However, Arrow's lawyers mentioned that an unsuccessful mediation had taken place prior to initiating the arbitration proceedings. In January 2009, Arrow Funds requested a hearing with the SEC to challenge AdvisorShares' application for exemptive relief filed the previous month. Arrow and their counsel claimed that Hamman "To enable the Application to proceed, deliberately thwarted and delayed the selection of the Arbitration tribunal members."<ref name=Arrow>{{cite web|title=Request for Hearing on Application of AdvisorSharesInvestments, LLC and AdvisorSharesTrust, Investment Company Act Release No. 28568; 812-13488|url=http://www.sec.gov/comments/812-13488/812-13488-1.pdf}}</ref> This request to block the application for exemptive relief was denied on July 20, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940 [Release No. 28822|url=http://globaldocuments.morningstar.com/DocumentLibrary/Document/e7d98e8a8d433c15.msdoc/original/f8k072109ex99i_fund.htm|access-date=2014-01-18|archivedate=2013-12-15|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215193954/http://globaldocuments.morningstar.com/DocumentLibrary/Document/e7d98e8a8d433c15.msdoc/original/f8k072109ex99i_fund.htm|url-status=deviated}}</ref> "On March 1, 2010, Mr. Hamman, Arrow and the Members agreed to settle the Arbitration"<ref>{{cite web|title=FORM 8-K Fund.com |url=http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/containers/fix230/1335795/000121390010000804/f8k030110_fund.htm}}</ref> | |||
| *Exchange traded funds are the most significant product development since money market funds in the 1970s with ETF asset growth approaching $800 billion. | |||
| *According to Barclays Global Investors, “Just about the only product to see net inflows in 2008 were Exchange Traded Funds." | |||
| *On a global basis: ETF net sales were US$ 187.5 billion; while net sales of mutual funds were minus US$256.7 billion | |||
| *In contrast, Hedge Funds for the first time in their 18-year history had significant outflows according to Hedge Fund Research (HFR). | |||
| *TrimTabs expects the outflows to be more than US$ 100 billion for all of 2008. | |||
| *According to the National Stock Exchange, ETFs represent $1.3 trillion in trading volume per month. | |||
| *Exchange-traded funds now represent 31 percent of all trading volume in the U.S. equities market, an indication of just how widespread the adoption of ETFs has become in the U.S. | |||
| ==Open Architecture Financial Platform== | |||
| Despite ETFs being one of the fastest growing financial products of the new century, Fund.com and its AdvisorShares subsidiary approach ETFs differently than mainstream ETF providers by observing and copying a new, successful business model – Apple’s iPhone. Apple made the iPhone software open to software developers that unleashed a torrent of creativity and resulted in 85,000 applications for the iPhone being developed by independent programmers. Apple itself invests in the platform, branding, marketing and the distribution these “apps”, however, the apps have made the iPhone infinitely more desirable to the general public, dramatically increasing Apple’s sales, with Apple’s stock recently breaking the $200.00 mark, even in the still shaky economy. AdvisorShares applies this same model to ETFs. | |||
| The AdvisorShares’ ETF platform allows existing investment advisors to “plug-in” their own investment management strategy into an ETF. Like an iPhone “app,” independent managers develop their own products that “run on” AdvisorShares ETF platform. AdvisorShares shares in the management fee revenue, just like Apple. And also just like Apple, AdvisorShares’ target market is massive – in the US there are currently 10,466 registered investment advisors (RIAs) in the United States that oversee $37.5 trillion in professionally managed assets, according to Tiburon Strategic Advisors <ref></ref>. In the company’s view, all advisors want to grow their business and a custom NYSE-listed ETF will help them achieve their goals. | |||
| ==The DENT Tactical ETF (NYSE: DENT)== | |||
| An example of Fund.com’s growth and business model is the which commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2009 under the NYSE Ticker: DENT. This is the first product of , an investment management company that was formed for the purpose of offering a series of actively managed ETFs. DENT is actively managed by HS Dent Investment Management, LLC, an independent economic research and forecasting company and publisher of The Dent Method. HS Dent Investment Management is managed by New York Times best selling financial author, Harry S. Dent Jr. Previously, HS Dent has previously raised and managed a $1.7 billion dollar mutual fund. | |||
| AdvisorShares is the investment advisor to DENT and is paid fees by the ETF as a percentage of assets in the fund, with 60% of the net fees retained going to Fund.com. | |||
| ⚫ | == |
||
| ⚫ | ===Vensure Employer Services attempted acquisition=== | ||
| On November 4, 2009, Fund.com announced its purchase of an equity interest in Mesa, AZ.-based Vensure Employer Services, Inc., a professional employer organization that provides benefits and payroll administration, health and workers' compensation insurance programs, employee training and development services, and retirement benefits plans, such as 401k's, for small and medium businesses. The equity is represented by $21.9 million of participating preferred stock of Vensure. | On November 4, 2009, Fund.com announced its purchase of an equity interest in Mesa, AZ.-based Vensure Employer Services, Inc., a professional employer organization that provides benefits and payroll administration, health and workers' compensation insurance programs, employee training and development services, and retirement benefits plans, such as 401k's, for small and medium businesses. The equity is represented by $21.9 million of participating preferred stock of Vensure. | ||
| Fund.com was unable to meet the contractual obligations of the purchase and the transaction was subsequently reversed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://biz.yahoo.com/e/100824/fndm.pk8-k.html |title=Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement, Notice of Delisting or Failure to S |date=August 24, 2010 }}</ref> | |||
| Vensure provides services to small and medium-sized businesses, including benefits and payroll administration, health and workers’ compensation insurance programs, personnel records management, employer liability management, employee recruiting and selection, employee performance management, employee training and development services and retirement obligations. Regarding retirement obligations, Vensure’s business operations include a retirement services product line that offers a variety of options to clients like 401(k) plans, 401(k) plans with safe harbor provisions, profit sharing, and money purchase plans. Vensure directly employs, or acts as co-employer for, approximately 4,000 employees; it has approximately 269 business clients. | |||
| == |
===Whyte Lyon Socratic acquisition=== | ||
| ⚫ | In November 2009, the company also announced that it had purchased 100% of the capital stock of Whyte Lyon Socratic, Inc., a developer of online education programs for | ||
| ⚫ | investors, debtors and professionals. As part of that transaction, Whyte Lyon's president Joseph J. Bianco was named chairman of the board of Fund.com.<ref></ref> | ||
| ⚫ | Whyte Lyon Socratic specialized in long-distance learning and assisting online students in developing the necessary skills to understand financial transactions and financial markets; develop money management skills to help them manage their income and wealth; and reach particular goals, including homeownership, debt reconciliation, and improved credit scores. | ||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | investors, debtors and professionals. As part of that transaction, Whyte Lyon's president Joseph J. Bianco was named chairman of the board of Fund.com<ref></ref> |
||
| ===Decline=== | |||
| ⚫ | Whyte Lyon Socratic |
||
| In September 2011 an unusually large 1 for 120 reverse split of Fund.com shares failed to stop the share price slide. Fund.com lost 99% of its value that year giving a market value of around $8.4 million<ref name=bi_jason /> | |||
| == |
=== Recovery === | ||
| In late 2016, Thomas Braziel was assigned as a receiver to Fund.com and investigated how he could monetize the remaining assets of the company on behalf of shareholders. Among other things, he is trying to recover the fund.com URL that the previous management sold in an allegedly fraudulent transaction involving John Galanis. In addition, fund.com and ] settled a lawsuit over an ownership dispute. While AdvisorShare has already paid fund.com $2 million, Braziel is trying to recover an additional $2.2 million owed by AdvisorShares and unseal the terms of the confidential settlement made with the previous owners of fund.com.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Svenda|first1=Jan|title=Fund.com - Peculiar Legal Opportunity With Activist Catalyst|url=https://seekingalpha.com/article/4091377-fund-com-peculiar-legal-opportunity-activist-catalyst|website=Seeking Alpha|accessdate=20 August 2017}}</ref> In July 2018 Braziel successfully recovered the fund.com domain name for the receivership and is pursuing further action against previous insiders and recovery of other assets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fndmreceivership.com|title=Fund.com Inc.|website=Fund.com Inc.|access-date=2018-07-25}}</ref> In July 2024 Braziel was stripped of his position as receiver.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 18, 2024 |title=MEMORANDUM OPINION ADDRESSING EXCEPTIONS TO SPECIAL MAGISTRATE’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION |url=https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=366760 }}</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | In March 2008, Clek Media announced that it had brokered the sale of the domain name “Fund.com” for nearly $10 |
||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| *] | *] | ||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| == References == | == References == | ||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> | |||
| <references/> | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==References== | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:18, 30 August 2024
 | |
| Traded as | OTC Pink No Information: FNDM |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 (2007) |
| Headquarters | New York City, US |
| Key people | Jason Galanis |
Fund.com Inc. is a US-based financial services information publishing company and fund platform that focuses on the fund management industry. Its aims were to provide a destination website for investments, including mutual funds, hedge funds, money market funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, index funds, commodity funds and other types of pooled investment vehicles.
The company saw a significant decline in its share price after a soured business deal in late 2009 after which it has only traded in the “pink sheets”. Some of its senior executives were connected to Westmoore Capital from which Fund.com raised $1.5 million in 2008. Westmoore Capital was closed down by the SEC for running a $53 million Ponzi scheme.
History
The company was formed through a reverse takeover in January 2008 of Eastern Services Group, a state and local tax advisor for Nevada casinos. After the merger the name was changed to Fund.com
Domain name purchase
In March 2008, Clek Media announced that it had brokered the sale of the domain name “Fund.com” for nearly $10 million in an all-cash transaction, to the company Fund.com Inc. Although never confirmed by the company itself, the purchase price would have been the highest recorded price paid for a web site domain up to that point, followed by Porn.com ($9.5 million) Business.com ($7.5 million) and Diamond.com ($7.5 million). However, some industry insiders have questioned the validity of the amount reported.
AdvisorShares acquisition
In 2008 the company purchased a 60% stake in AdvisorShares for an initial payment of $275,000, on October 31, 2008. Fund.com agreed to pay Noah Hamman, who founded AdvisorShares, a base salary of $240,000 and a minimum guaranteed bonus of $100,000 per year after the acquisition. Just a week later on November 7, 2008 Noah Hamman's former company, Arrow Funds, commenced arbitration proceedings against Hamman and AdvisorShares for usurping Arrow's intellectual property including its business plan in establishing AdvisorShares. However, Arrow's lawyers mentioned that an unsuccessful mediation had taken place prior to initiating the arbitration proceedings. In January 2009, Arrow Funds requested a hearing with the SEC to challenge AdvisorShares' application for exemptive relief filed the previous month. Arrow and their counsel claimed that Hamman "To enable the Application to proceed, deliberately thwarted and delayed the selection of the Arbitration tribunal members." This request to block the application for exemptive relief was denied on July 20, 2009. "On March 1, 2010, Mr. Hamman, Arrow and the Members agreed to settle the Arbitration"
Vensure Employer Services attempted acquisition
On November 4, 2009, Fund.com announced its purchase of an equity interest in Mesa, AZ.-based Vensure Employer Services, Inc., a professional employer organization that provides benefits and payroll administration, health and workers' compensation insurance programs, employee training and development services, and retirement benefits plans, such as 401k's, for small and medium businesses. The equity is represented by $21.9 million of participating preferred stock of Vensure.
Fund.com was unable to meet the contractual obligations of the purchase and the transaction was subsequently reversed.
Whyte Lyon Socratic acquisition
In November 2009, the company also announced that it had purchased 100% of the capital stock of Whyte Lyon Socratic, Inc., a developer of online education programs for investors, debtors and professionals. As part of that transaction, Whyte Lyon's president Joseph J. Bianco was named chairman of the board of Fund.com.
Whyte Lyon Socratic specialized in long-distance learning and assisting online students in developing the necessary skills to understand financial transactions and financial markets; develop money management skills to help them manage their income and wealth; and reach particular goals, including homeownership, debt reconciliation, and improved credit scores.
Decline
In September 2011 an unusually large 1 for 120 reverse split of Fund.com shares failed to stop the share price slide. Fund.com lost 99% of its value that year giving a market value of around $8.4 million
Recovery
In late 2016, Thomas Braziel was assigned as a receiver to Fund.com and investigated how he could monetize the remaining assets of the company on behalf of shareholders. Among other things, he is trying to recover the fund.com URL that the previous management sold in an allegedly fraudulent transaction involving John Galanis. In addition, fund.com and AdvisorShares settled a lawsuit over an ownership dispute. While AdvisorShare has already paid fund.com $2 million, Braziel is trying to recover an additional $2.2 million owed by AdvisorShares and unseal the terms of the confidential settlement made with the previous owners of fund.com. In July 2018 Braziel successfully recovered the fund.com domain name for the receivership and is pursuing further action against previous insiders and recovery of other assets. In July 2024 Braziel was stripped of his position as receiver.
See also
References
- ^ "The Past May Be A Prologue For Fund.com And Weston Capital". Business Insider Australia. April 20, 2011.
- "Fund.com Inc. (FNDM) -Other OTC". Yahoo Finance. June 6, 2014.
- 'Clek Media Inc. Brokers World-Record $10 Million Domain Sale'
- "Fund.com Sells for a Record $10 Million". DomainNameNews. December 3, 2008.
- "AdvisorShares Investments, LLC Purchase and Contribution Agreement".
- "Employment Agreement". Law Insider.
- "Request for Hearing on Application of AdvisorSharesInvestments, LLC and AdvisorSharesTrust, Investment Company Act Release No. 28568; 812-13488" (PDF).
- "INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940 [Release No. 28822". Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- "FORM 8-K Fund.com".
- "Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement, Notice of Delisting or Failure to S". August 24, 2010.
- 'Fund.com Acquires an Equity Interest in Vensure Employer Services and Whyte Lyon Socratic, Names Joseph J. Bianco as Chairman of the Board'
- Svenda, Jan. "Fund.com - Peculiar Legal Opportunity With Activist Catalyst". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
- "Fund.com Inc". Fund.com Inc. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
- "MEMORANDUM OPINION ADDRESSING EXCEPTIONS TO SPECIAL MAGISTRATE'S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION". July 18, 2024.