Beware of the Ponzi Scheme: The 2020 SEC Enforcement Report

It’s my favorite time of year. I do love celebrating the harvest as much as the next guy – but I really love November because the SEC Enforcement Report is published. If you work in securities, or have an affinity for all things Ponzi scheme (like me) – it’s a wonderful season. This post is … Read more

Cut that slice in half: Dilution and Pizza

Building on the totally tubular authorized, issued, and outstanding shares (pizza slices) post from two weeks ago, this post discusses a simple dilution example to help highlight the basics.  Leonardo’s Pizza Parlor has 5,000,000 Authorized Shares; it has 1,000,000 shares outstanding.  Let’s assume you own 100,000 shares of  the Company – or 10% of the … Read more

There is Only One Pizza – But the Number Of Slices is Up to You

This is the first post in a series about dilution.  Before we start down that path though, lets start with some simple background information. The key to understanding dilution comes with three simple words: Authorized, Issued, and Outstanding (shares). Authorized Shares means the total (read, total ever) shares a Corporation can create or “cut itself into.”  If … Read more