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| Website | www.fund.com |
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Fund.com Inc. (OTCBB: FNDM.OB) is a publicly traded Internet company operating in the financial services, product development, licensing and publishing sectors, based in New York City, New York. The company serves the needs of financial institutions, investors and the general consumer seeking information regarding investment fund options, including hedge funds, mutual funds, exchange-traded fund (ETFs), index funds, etc. Fund.com considers itself the sole company comprehensively focusing on the fund market for all potential investors.
Company Structure and Management
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).
Fund.com is lead 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.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- 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 . 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 Dent Tactical ETF which commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on September 15, 2009 under the NYSE Ticker: DENT. This is the first product of AdvisorShares Investments, LLC, 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.
Acquisition of Vensure Employer Services, Inc.
On November 4th, 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.
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.
Acquisition of Whyte Lyon Socratic, Inc.
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 specializes in long-distance learning, and is designed to assist 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.
Domain Name Sales
In March 2008, Clek Media announced that it had brokered the sale of the domain name “Fund.com” for nearly $10,000,000 in an all-cash transaction, to the company Fund.com Inc. Fund.com Inc never put out a press release on the transaction. The purchase price is the highest recorded price in history, followed by Porn.com ($9,500,000) Business.com ($7,500,000) and Diamond.com ($7,500,000.)
References
- AdvisorShares Investments, Initiates Public Offering Launching its Unique Exchange Traded Fund Platform for Investment Advisors and Lists on the New York Stock Exchange
- 'Fund.com Acquires an Equity Interest in Vensure Employer Services and Whyte Lyon Socratic, Names Joseph J. Bianco as Chairman of the Board'
- 'Clek Media Inc. Brokers World-Record $10 Million Domain Sale'
See also
References
- Fund.com
- Yahoo Finance
- Clek Media
- Domain Sales
- Fund.com (FNDM.OB) CEO Greg Webster Discusses the Success of the DENT Tactical ETF (NYSE: DENT)
- AdvisorShares Investments, LLC Brings a Tailored ETF Investment Vehicle to the Marketplace With Exemptive Relief