Hope Capital shares plunge amid Altman sell-off
By Adam Reuters
SECOND LIFE, March 19 (Reuters) - Shaun Altman, the developer brought in through a merger to revive the World Stock Exchange last month, said on Monday he is stepping down from his day-to-day role and selling nearly one-third of his stake in its parent company.
Under terms of the deal, Altman’s Second Life Solutions exchanged its 50 percent ownership of the World Stock Exchange for 12.5 million newly issued shares of Hope Capital, its joint venture partner. Altman said he plans to sell approximately 4 million of those shares.
“Any further work by Shaun Altman will be on a contractual basis,” the WSE said in a statement. “(Hope Capital Chairman and CEO) LukeConnell Vandeverre and his team will now be responsible for the management and operations of the World Stock Exchange.”
Hope Capital, which now has 25 million shares outstanding compared with 12.5 million prior to the deal, dropped to L$4.20 per share by 1318 Pacific on Monday, from L$8.89 at the beginning of Sunday when the deal was first announced.
“We’re doing a little restructuring so I can begin to scale back my day-to-day involvement in operations,” Altman said in a Second Life interview. “I have to sell equity to mitigate risk. My position is huge. If your overall exposure in WSE were L$110,000,000 [about US$400,000] wouldn’t you take off a third of that too?”
The massive sell order was staggered between L$5 and L$9 “to offer a good price in exchange for the liquidity needed on an order of this size,” Altman added. He said he had no plans to sell the remaining shares.
The World Stock Exchange, run by Vandeverre (RL name: Luke Connell), was launched in January but was beset by software problems that halted trading. In February, the WSE merged with Shaun Altman’s Metaverse Stock Exchange, who became chief technology officer.
The combined exchange now has 30 listed companies and a daily volume of L$11 million (US$40,000).
Altman has declined to disclose his real-world identity.
