Smart Parts Aquired!

[Ratt]

What harm is there in telling us who you [all] are? If such an "agreement" is so solidly in place, there's no reason to suspect anyone "undercutting" your agreement now is there?

I agree...what harm can be done by letting everyone know who ya'll are?

[Hobbez]

Agreed. While I understand using the concept of holding back your identities and releasing information very slowly to increase hype and speculation for a crapton of free advertising, in this case, IMO of course, its a very very, bad idea. Smarts Parts has bit enough folks in the a$$ over the years with shady, backroom deals, that you folks might just drive a lot of potential customers away with all this secretive business.

I realise I'm not a big-wig in the paintball business and I don't know everything thats going on with this deal, but whats the harm in just decalring who you guys are? Keeping everything so hush hush is making everything wonder if your using bleach on your hats...

[BigEvil]

Maybe they arent coming forward because the deal is NOT done yet, and maybe there was a good reason why they wanted to let the pb world know that something is up.

[skipdogg]

I think more info. is being released today

[rabidchihauhau]

In situations like this, explanations usually lead to more complaints - but I'm going to try and hope for the best.

The initial press release was not a planned, timed release. It was made because it became evident that the information was going to be released via third parties. A great deal of discussion ensued and ultimately it was decided by WH that they needed to be the ones to make the first announcement.

For good business reasons, WH was conducting its activities quietly and without public fanfare. WH is trying to continue to operate in that fashion as much as possible.

[factoid]

Clarification. But first - for those who do not know from long standing tradition, "Rabidchihauhau" (deliberately spelled wrong) is Steve Davidson. Used to be I didn't have to make that statement, but these days it's a whole new crowd.

As you can all imagine, I've been quite busy. That being said, this is not a tease, but a clarification of some things that folks seem to have been getting wrong.

There are allusions to (if not outright claims) that the substantive content of the White Hat LLC press releases on 68Caliber "changed" from release one to release two.

This is not the case. What actually happened is two things: first, another website/blog posted and then removed some erroneous information. However, before the removal, the content was posted to PBNation. The problem is that the other website's (incorrect) information appeared under the heading of "originally posted on 68Caliber". That post on PBNation has since been removed at the request of 68Caliber. Unfortunately, it was up on the site long enough to create the impression that White Hats LLC had said one thing and then later changed it to something different. (PBN is not the bad guy here.)

The second thing is: Many people read the original WH press release so quickly (and no doubt with a fair amount of emotion) that they misread or came to conclusions about things that weren't stated in the press release.

Here is the initial paragraph of the first press release from WH:

White Hats LLC, a limited liability company formed in 2010 through the acquisition of the assets and intellectual property holdings of several existing paintball companies has entered into an exclusive arrangement with secured creditors to purchase all of the assets of Smart Parts Inc., including intellectual property, machinery, finished goods and etc.

and here is the relevant paragraph of the second press release from WH:

White Hats LLC is in the middle of the acquisition process. They have secured an exclusive position with the creditors

The second press release then goes on to say the following:

The statement

The bold quoted sentence was not a quote from a WH press release, but is, instead, a statement made by many who have posted in various forums on the subject. So many people were in fact making that statement that WH felt it necessary to put out the second press release.

At no time and at no place on the web has White Hats LLC said anything other than the facts of the situation: they have an exclusive arrangement with creditors.

Please feel free to speculate and to offer your commentary (don't need my permission for that), but please remember that a single outlet for official information has been designated in the (forlorn) hope that folks can double check in one place and at least be talking from the same page (for a couple of sentences anyway).

As always - WH thanks you all for your patience and will release additional information when it is appropriate to do so.

Steve, thank you for coming in and clarifying.

I admit I misread the statement initially but your follow up press release clarified it. I will say however that there are two ways to read the sentence from the first press release.

The whole sentence hinges on the word "with" and how you place emphasis on it.

My initial reading was that you entered into an exclusive arrangement ALONG WITH secured creditors. As if your arrangement was with Smart Parts or the bank/trustee.

The correct reading is obviously that your arrangement was with the CREDITORS and that arrangement was a means to the end of acquiring the smart parts IP.

The second press release still confuses me though. When you say you have an agreement in principle, to me that means you've put a deal on the table and smart parts and/or their receivership trustee has accepted but you're working out the details. The reason I read it that way is that in your first press release you say you've already engaged with creditors, as though that was a done deal.

I think press releases are generally a terrible means of communicating information personally. I much prefer good plain-language reporting.

Again, thank you for coming in and trying to clear up the misconceptions. It's very much appreciated. Having an invested community that hangs on your every word, even if they mis-read them, is a pretty good problem to have :) We speculate because we care and we're dying to see what happens next.

[factoid]

Red bold = that's ALL that's been said. So..who IS white hats? Why do you all hide behind 68 cal? I know that you [guys] posted "it takes time to.......[blather on about a whole lot of nothing]"

meaning....you have to get with each other and get your stories straight before telling us what SHOULD have been in the original article.

What harm is there in telling us who you [all] are? If such an "agreement" is so solidly in place, there's no reason to suspect anyone "undercutting" your agreement now is there?

Even without any insider information I'd bet that just because they have an exclusive arrangement with creditors doesn't mean nobody can come in and bid against them.

All that exclusive arrangement likely means is that the creditors they secured cannot also lend money to a competing firm bidding for the same assets. Those competing firms are free to secure funding from other creditors or use their own money should they have enough.

[CatoRockwell]

Conspiracy! rabidchihauhau, admit it. WhiteHats is using paintball to make the perfect player. An Alien-Human Hybrid.

[NoForts4Me]

Maybe they arent coming forward because the deal is NOT done yet

I think you hit the nail on the head. Things can fall apart rapidly for many reasons, so there's no reason to put information forward until the deal is completed. Also, what rabid said makes sense with regards to the information being released without their control, so WH made a preemptive press release.

About the only assumption I'm drawing is that the company will at least be partially focused on IP enforcement. You don't pay money for IP's (or patents) you either don't intend to use to make products, or license out (and enforce) to make money. Don't expect when this is a done deal for WH to just release the patents and tell everyone to carry on as they were. Hopefully, they'll be easier to deal with than it appears SP was (having NO business dealings with SP, I only know what I read on teh internets), but you have to be profitable as a company, and the patents are an asset.

[cockerpunk]

Conspiracy! rabidchihauhau, admit it. WhiteHats is using paintball to make the perfect player. An Alien-Human Hybrid.

a zerg-protoss hybrid?

oh noes!!111!!!

[leloup]

a zerg-protoss hybrid?

oh noes!!111!!!

Boooo! Blizzard stole the material and ideas from Games Workshop to make star craft. That's somehihng smartparts would do.

But seriously, if the company named themelves White Hats for the iconic image of the good guy, they got to be thinking a little high and mighty. TK, I think I speak for everyone here, What are your thoughts, opinions, and insider knowledge on the topic? You are speaking almost as criptic as White Hats.

[ArmyEngineer]

TK still hasn't answered the big question of the level of his involvement. He seems like a pretty direct person, so he probably would have denied being a part of this thing if that was in fact the case. He has taken care to avoid the subject so far, and probably for good reason. I'm sure he will reveal his position when the time is right.

The correction of the conclusion that he does not have any knowledge of the situation seems to be another good indication that he has something in the works. For now, I will just keep my fingers crossed.

[Beemer]

He has taken care to avoid the subject so far, and probably for good reason.

Ya good reason, he could tell you but then you know he would have to.........

If you talk at a movie with him he will keel you.

[Ando]

Here we go, Beemer just opened the door to the "most interesting man in the world" and Chuck Norris quotes for TK.

[ArmyEngineer]

Ya good reason, he could tell you but then you know he would have to.........

If you talk at a movie with him he will keel you.

That would suck.

If you ever wondered what TK looked like before the beard turned white, this:


P.S. I just finished building my tinfoil hat so he can't read my mind.

Here we go, Beemer just opened the door to the "most interesting man in the world" and Chuck Norris quotes for TK.

The funny thing is I posted this before I saw your post, Ando.