Proving that there's never a dull moment in the Mamma.com
Taking his place will be Mamma executive Martin Bouchard. It isn't a bad choice -- Bouchard came to the company thirteen months ago, after Mamma acquired Bouchard's Copernic. It was a good buy, as Copernic's desktop search feature was incorporated into Time Warner's
However, the AOL validation is about the only thing that has gone right for the company. Despite the fat profit margins being put out by search giants like Google
That's not a death sentence. Small rivals like MIVA
Between Mark Cuban's brief endorsement, auditors bailing, and the SEC sniffing around, Mamma's lifestyle has been as wild as its ticker tape. Mamma began 2004 with its shares priced at $3.20. By April it had popped to a high of $17.49. This past summer, the shares had fallen as low as $0.86. Frenetic trading last month -- always dangerous when you have stocks with small floats that can be easily swayed one way or the other -- sent the stock up to $8.60. The stock is now down to $4.85 a pop.
As I wrote last month, when I pegged the $8 Mamma as a short in Motley Fool CAPS, Mamma.com "isn't worthless, it's just worth less." Unless the fundamentals beg to differ when the company posts earnings next month, I won't change my vote in the stock-rating service.
The change at the top can be a good thing. Bouchard wasn't around during the go-go days of 2004, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm just wondering if we'll ever find out why the CEO resigned. That's the real mystery. Let's hope that Mamma isn't keeping secrets.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz loves his mamma. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.