This has been an interesting virtual investing lesson for me because FeedZeBirds:
1.) was the first (and perhaps only) BTC securities issue that I've looked at that had a reasonably polished looking investment prospectus,
2.) had a well placed and marketed IPO,
3.) had a working business in operation BEFORE the IPO and a promising business model going forward,
4.) was not shady or semi-legal in any way,
5.) and was brought to market by some of the best known, trusted, and (otherwise) successful members of the Bitcoin community.
HOWEVER, since buying into this thing it has basically turned into the biggest DOG of an investment I have ever made (virtually):
1.) If I remember correctly (no more GLBSE historical data!) after briefly trading at and above IPO price, it began a sustained march South that continued until GLBSE folded.
2.) It never paid out a single satoshi of dividends or other income to shareholders.
3.) After more than five months since GLBSE's closure, we still have not received any confirmation that management has received a shareholder database from nefario, nor have they attempted any sort of verification (unlike every other investment I had there).
4.) The website and business have been completely nonoperational for months now, with only vague promises about a forthcoming reboot.
5.) The shares have not been relisted on any other asset market.
6.) For most of the time since GLBSE's collapse it seemed like this project had been completely abandoned.
UPDATE Feb 9, 2013: People have been (understandably) very anxious as to why the site has been down, and have no idea about how shares will be handled since GLBSE disappeared. I'd like to provide an update. I also encourage anyone interested to chat with me on skype (acc: evoorhees)
1) I'm current working to get the GLBSE FZB database from Nefario. Once I do, we'll get it re-listed, likely on BitFunder.
2) I'm paying to have the entire site redone professionally. It'll be very nice.
3) Once the new site is up (1-2 months) and the shares relisted, I'll start marketing it again. It will have a live support agent to help newbs learn how to use it.
That's the plan. I apologize for the months of sub-par service with this. The FZB holders deserve better, so that's what I'm doing now. Thank you for your patience thus far.
Erik,
Given my points above and your own admission of what a "sub-par" investment this has been for us shareholders, don't you think it makes sense to perhaps consider a refund or buy-back with whatever's left of IPO proceeds rather than attempt a reboot of this dog?
With all due respect to you and your (otherwise) impressive entrepreneurial record, I bet it wouldn't take much more than a rounding error of proceeds from one of your other more successful ventures to offer an amicable parting of ways with the original FZB investors and remove this ugly stain from your track record.
Shareholders have had zero opportunities for liquidity since GBLSE and frankly may not be interested in sticking around even longer to see if this can be resurrected. I'm sure you're very busy with other things. Also, given the USD/BTC move since IPO and the very different Bitcoin investment landscape these days, I'm sure many other investors besides myself would be VERY HAPPY to get something back TODAY other than zero, rather than waiting around to see if this bird will ever fly.
What do you think?