Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/27/stec_ceo_half_million_bet/
Fallen flash pioneer's CEO bets $600k it can rise again
Must be sick of watching flash newbies grab the big bucks
Posted in Storage, 27th November 2012 06:33 GMT
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Struggling SSD supplier STEC has received a vote of confidence from its own CEO - Mark Moshayedi has just bought $593,000 worth of shares.
According to Forbes and Nasdaq community news [1] president and CEO Mark Moshayedi bought 137,664 shares at an average price of $4.71. He obviously expects and hopes they will rise as STEC returns to health after a disastrously late entry into SAS/SATA solid state drives and PCIe format flash cards.
These problems were compounded when EMC over-bought STEC's Fibre Channel SSDs and stopped buying to draw down its inventory. They were compounded again when the SEC accused the then-president, chairman and CEO, Manouche Moshayed, of improper share dealing (Background here [2].) He promptly resigned to fight the charges, stepping aside in favour of his brother Mark. The share price collapsed and followed STEC's revenues down the toilet. A profits run turned into losses - around $80m so far this year.
STEC was once a flash star and has seen new entrants prosper as they come into the market that it pioneered - while it is left behind, struggling to catch up with its new SSDs and flash memory cards.
The new CEO seems confident STEC is back on a revenue growth path and is putting over half a million dollars of his own money where his mouth is. That's an impressive bet. ®