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Jack Thompson Buys Stock in GTA Parent Company
omega9 writes "You're not reading it wrong. From an artice posted as Joystiq, "Jack Thompson has purchased shares in Take-Two interactive - otherwise known as the publisher behind the Grand Theft Auto series of games. So has JT suddenly become a financial supporter of the company he's long campaigned against? Not a chance. JT has purchased stock in the company in order that he might attend Take-Two's shareholder meetings and face up to the company's CEO, Paul Eibeler.""
Heck, I'm now considering buying stock in Take-Two, just so I can witness what promises to be the most side-splitting board meetings ever held.
In fact, I smell a new reality TV show...get cameras in there to record all the hilarious action.
We can have viewer participation too, go to the website and enter in the poll....how long will Jack last before Paul gets fed up with his inane babbling and calls the police to have him ejected? How many times will the police have to hit him to subdue him before they drag him out? (We'll have a ringer cop in there, so there will always be at least one punch.)
Imagine a few cops stiff-arming Jack Thompson's face into the drywall....now that's must-see TV! ^_^
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
"At one point, JT refers to Microsoft's Flight Simulator as a training simulator for the 9/11 terrorists"
I'm sure the other shareholders will be just thrilled to see this jackass try to ruin the company.
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
I thought this guy was supposed to be a practicing attorney. Does he ever do any real work? How is it he has so much time to squander on this childish crusade of his?
he could present some cool game ideas!
I'd hate to be the guy who realizes he sold his Take Two stock to Jack Thompson.
What's your damage, Heather?
Seems to me this guy is way more about self-promotion than anything else.
Barking up the wrong tree.
As a shareholder, he's got the right to be heard, if the board gives him the floor. I truly hope they don't, since his points are almost definitely not germane to the purpose of the meeting. I'd like to see the rules governing shareholder meetings at Take-two.
If he really wants to be heard, he should buy a controlling stake in the company... not that he could afford it.
Anyone know if Ryan's a majority shareholder? He'd put JT in his place so fast, Thompson wouldn't know up from down, left from right, A from B, B from A, Select from Start.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
TFA doesn't say how many shares - I wouldn't worry too much (Note I said "too" much). The shareholders will realize who he is and either ignore him totally or try to buy up his shares.
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He probably doesn't own more than a few shares - just enough to be a "shareholder" and raise holy hell at the shareholders meeting. Maybe a publicity stunt? We haven't heard much from Jack in awhile now. Besides, isn't the Florida Bar Assoc. looking into his conduct at this time?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051019-545
My MythTV HowTo
...growing up in a house where Daddy thinks that (flight_sim == jihad)? This guy needs attention alright, the psychiatric kind.
NeverEndingBillboard.com
NeverEndingBillboard.com
Why, I think its the smell of an impending minority shareholder lawsuit.
Hmm. Smells suspisiously like feces, too.
Hell, long before 9/11 I used to buzz the Twin Towers all of the time. I'm not trolling. Back then it was stupid, innocent fun. (No one was hurt but a few pixels on my screen.) Now when I play the sight of the WTC makes my heart ache. And yes, I know about the patch. I chose not to use it.
Sure, the terrorists learned a bit about flying using Flight Simulator. So did many decent pilots.
I can kill you with a screwdriver, but that's not what a screwdriver is for. Don't blame the tools or the toolmakers, blame the sick bastards who use them for the wrong means.
It's true that you can attend shareholder meetings and cast proxy votes if you own a share of stock, but any information released to shareholders by a publicly-traded company has to be made available to the public, usually by way of an SEC filing of some sort. You can listen to conference calls, get annual reports, etc., on-line too even if you're not a stockholder.
For more information, click here.
I could almost understand his issue with violent video games like "Grand Theft Auto III" and such. As a father, I don't let my children play them (ages 6, 3, and 1), and reserve those for my own use. While I don't feel that such games contribute to overall violence, I also know there are many better games to be playing with my children (like "Dragon Quest VIII", "Mario Kart", etc).
But I can give a certain amount of respect to Mr. Thompson for standing up for his beliefs and going after them. Or, I would, except his true views were shown when he went after Bill Gates for making "Microsoft Flight Simulator".
By accusing MS for being part of the cause of the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Towers, I'm afraid that Mr. Thompson has shown a view that's, well, crazy, for lack of a more polite word. In his universe, flight simulators aren't used to give people an idea of what it's like to fly a plane - it's used by terrorists to kill people. In his world, Tetris probably isn't a challenging puzzle game - it's a method for people to learn how to fit blocks together to seal people inside a la "The Cask of Amontillado".
By Mr. Thompson standards, we would be banished into a world as bad as that ruled by the Taliban, where music, dancing, games, laughter and fun are simply scary things to trick people into doing evil. A game of "cops and robbers" played out by kids 20 years ago would be seen by him as encouraging crime.
So, while he might have had my respect in the past for at least working on something he perceived as a problem, he's shown himself to be in the worst light of those who would deny any human joy for fear of corruption.
Sorry, Jack. When I get home, I'm going to play a game of Chess with my daughter and Sorry with my son - or in your mind, "encouraging my daughter to commit mass atrocities on the battlefield and teaching my son to inflict suffering upon others and encouraging retribution".
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
That'll be funny if Take2 declared quarterly dividends.
So each time Jack has a case against some other game company. They can say that Jack is being paid by Take2.
The word is "litigiterrorists".
"As a shareholder, doesn't he have the responsibility to do what's best for the company?"
No, and I can prove it. I own some Google stock, now watch this: GOOGLE SUCKS!!! See, nothing happened. Seriously, it is the job of the employees and board of directors to do what's best for the company.
"...can Bill Gates buy up 49% of Red Hat and then deliberatly fuck up the company?"
Once you own more than 5% of a public company, you have to file your "intentions" with the SEC. Owning 49% of a company is far different than Jack Thompson buying a stock certificate from oneshare.com. 49% might get you a number of board seats, depending upon the company. In which case, the other shareholders would sue him for breach of fiduciary duty if he did bad things with the board seats.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
It makes about as much sense as Greenpeace investing in, say, Dow Chemical or ExxonMobil.
But I have to hand it to him for the audacious originality of the idea.
Actually, it's quite common for people who oppose a company to buy shares in order to protest at their shareholder meetings. Infact, I know at least one case where Greenpeace have done this, they bought shares in Amoco to try and block oil drilling in Alaska. See this page for more info on that case.
What? I own a few shares of Microsoft stock, so if I go to a shareholders meeting and demand that the open their source code, somethings going to happen? DAMN! Why didn't I think of that before?!?
Unless he bought a metric buttload of stock, he's going to have no effect on the development of any of Take Twos games, and more than any other super-minority stockholder would have on product development at any other decent-sized company.
Jesus, their market cap is 1.26 billion I really don't think they have anything to worry about from a prick who was too cheap to pony up 10k to a charity.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
If GTA trains us all to be killers
and everyone Hates Jack
why is he still walking around ?
Type unto others as you would have them type unto you.
I keep thinking we should all form what might be called "open source holding companies" for the sole purpose of gathering enough stock in a company to force them to open source their code by slim majority vote. Once their source is open, the shares can slowly be sold off to buy the next company to force the code open. Sure, there are flaws in the proposal as stated here, some might say huge gaping ones, but the point is to get a few ideas out there.
I bought SCOX a year or so ago, just so I could order paper copies of the stock certificates before they are delisted. Can't believe they are still kicking. (Paid more for the certificate than I did the stock) Framed, these make *fantastic* white elephant gifts as did the pets.com and a few other stinkers I picked up during the crash. Anyhow, you get tons of paperwork and can usually dial into the calls if you want. Did once just to hear weasel boy work his magic, but did not care enough to queue a question. Point being, I could have.
A public company can be driven by dissenters if they have enough voting shares to matter. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Jack does not have enough to do anything more than possibly ask a question. Most companies are pretty adept at keeping the loons from causing ruckus.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!