Dolphin Sends Letter to infoUSA Requesting Answers to Serious Questions From Shareholders
30 Maio 2007 - 6:27PM
PR Newswire (US)
STAMFORD, Conn., May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Dolphin Limited Partnership
I, L.P. and Dolphin Financial Partners, L.L.C., long-term holders
with 2.0 million shares (3.6%) of infoUSA (Nasdaq Symbol: IUSA),
today sent the following letter to Mr. Vinod Gupta and the infoUSA
Board of Directors. Dear Mr. Vinod Gupta and other infoUSA Board
members, The June 7, 2007 Annual Meeting is rapidly approaching.
Shareholders continue to seek meaningful answers to many serious
questions regarding their investment in infoUSA - not just empty
rhetoric and baseless allegations. Over the last year you have
refused to address the serious questions the investment community
has posed. We are providing you with another opportunity to do so
in advance of next week's Annual Meeting. Let's begin: Question #1:
To Mr. Vinod Gupta: You have often stated that as the largest
shareholder your interests are "aligned" with those of public
shareholders and that Wall Street investors are just predators
seeking a "quick buck."(1) In 2005, you made an $11.75 per share
bid for all shares other than yours just three months after you
publicly said they were worth over $18 per share and only five days
after guidance was lowered, driving the share price down 20%. We
are not aware of any other shareholder that has made such a
predatory bid for the Company. Yet, you and your affiliates
continue to be the only ones with an exclusive exemption from the
provisions of the Stockholder Rights Plan.(2) Exactly how are your
interests aligned with those of the unaffiliated shareholders'
interests, given those circumstances? Question #2: To the infoUSA
Board: Mr. Vinod Gupta, infoUSA's Chairman and CEO, owns 41% of the
shares, made an undervalued offer to acquire the Company and has an
exclusive exemption from the provisions of the Stockholder Rights
Plan.(2) Institutional Shareholder Services, the world's leading
independent proxy voting and corporate governance advisory service,
in its recommendation to its clients that they withhold their vote
from the election of Management's nominees and vote against the
2007 Omnibus Incentive Plan said this, "The extension of the
standstill only delayed the protection offered to shareholders by
one year. Further, the scheduled expiration of the pill removes an
additional protection for shareholders against Mr. [Vinod] Gupta's
potential control of the company. Given Mr. [Vinod] Gupta's track
record, it is imperative that the pill be renewed and adopted with
no exemptions." What do you intend to do when the Stockholder
Rights Plan expires on July 21, 2007? We hope that you will finally
address in a meaningful way these and the other questions we will
pose in the days leading up to next week's Annual Meeting. All
shareholders look forward to your responses. Very truly yours,
Donald T. Netter Senior Managing Director (1) Most recently, in a
letter sent by Mr. Vinod Gupta to infoUSA shareholders on May 29,
2007, Mr. Vinod Gupta asserts that what is wrong with "Wall Street"
types is that they seek only to make a "quick buck". On a
conference call, held October 26, 2006, to discuss infoUSA's 3rd
quarter 2006 operating results, Mr. Vinod Gupta stated: "Also, as a
founder of infoUSA, I, along with my wife and three sons have 40%
ownership of the Company. And my interests are aligned with the
interest of other infoUSA shareholders." (2) These facts are
outlined, in great detail, in Dolphin's proxy materials, filed with
the SEC, for the 2006 proxy contest, available on Dolphin's
website, http://www.iusaccountability.com/. The Board has executed
two successful standstill agreements, the current one of which
expires on the same day the Stockholder Rights Plan expires, on
July 21, 2007. DATASOURCE: Dolphin Limited Partnership I, L.P.
CONTACT: Arthur B. Crozier of Innisfree M&A Incorporated,
+1-212-750-5833, for Dolphin Limited Partnership I, L.P. Web site:
http://www.iusaccountability.com/
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