Circular to shareholders

CIRCULAR TO SHAREHOLDERS (“CIRCULAR”)

in relation to

THE PROPOSED UPGRADING OF BASIC CBOX TO PREMIUM CBOX (“THE UPGRADE”)

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DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this Circular, the following definitions apply throughout unless the context otherwise requires or unless otherwise stated.

“BullyTheBear” : The once exclusively technically inclined, but now almost exclusively fundamentally inclined financial website in Singapore

“cbox” : The tiny little community space above the blog posts of BullyTheBear and below the header, where shareholders can type in messages and discuss the mundane and important issues of the day

“Chairman” : Chairman of BullyTheBear website, known popularly as La Papillion, or LP

“Exchange rate” : Exchange rate of 1 USD to 1.40 SGD, taken conservatively.

“Mike” : Chairman of Straits Times Index. Despite everyone calling him Mike, Mike is not his real name. Mikedurst is what he is known in cna forum

“Upgrade” : The changing of the free and basic plan of cbox to the paid and feature-ful premium cbox

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To: The shareholders of BullyTheBear


Dear Sir/Madam

THE PROPOSED UPGRADING OF BASIC CBOX TO PREMIUM CBOX (“THE UPGRADE”)


1. INTRODUCTION


1.1 The Upgrade

The Chairman of BullyTheBear would like the shareholders to consider this proposal of upgrading the basic cbox to premium cbox. The cbox had been an integral and important part of the culture of BullyTheBear. Despite several major facelifting and structural changes that had occurred and will occur in the future, the cbox is one feature that will be set in stone. In fact, BullyTheBear will not be where it is today if not for the bond building and sharing that took place among shareholders, many of whom are regular users of the cbox.

As such, on 1st August 2008, the Chairman decided to act on the suggestion by Mike on the Upgrade.


1.2 Purpose of this Circular

The purpose of this Circular is to provide shareholders with relevant information relating to the Upgrade, and to seek shareholder’s approval and feedback for this exercise. Shareholders are requested to give honest feedback, but it is to be noted that the decision of the Upgrade lies solely on the Chairman. That being said, the voices of the shareholders will taken into consideration on the final deliberation of the Upgrade’s decision.


2 Details of the Upgrade


2.1 Listed below are the features that the Upgrade to premium cbox will bring about:

(a) Higher capacity – the premium cbox can store up to 600 messages (as opposed to only 100 messages for basic cbox) with up to 1000 characters long each. Each and every post are also archived.

(b) Users can delete their own last messages in the event of typos. The administrator can also delete messages and ban users with a single click.

(c) Ad-free

(d) Dynamic auto-refresh – yes, the feature everyone is waiting for. The rate of autorefresh is dynamically adjusted to the rate at which new messages are being posted

(e) Sound notification in the event of new messages. This complements the auto-refresh.

(f) A ‘who’s online’ display lists who is viewing and who is chatting

(g) Advanced style editing

(h) Custom word filter

(i) Allows users to password protect their names to prevent impersonation


2.2 Cost of the Upgrade

Cost of the Upgrade depends on the period of time for which the premium cbox is purchased. Generally, the longer the period, the cheaper the cost is. Here are the costs for different periods:

Period(months)----------Cost(USD)------------Cost per month (USD)
------3------------------------$6.00-----------------------$2.00
------6------------------------$11.00----------------------$1.83
------12----------------------$20.00----------------------$1.67
------24----------------------$35.00-----------------------$1.46


3 Evaluation for the Upgrade

In evaluating the Upgrade, the management of BullyTheBear had taken into account the pertinent factors set out below which will be considered as they are deemed to have significant bearing on the assessment.

(a) Rationale of the Upgrade

(b) Financial effects of the Upgrade

(c) Possible effects of the Upgrade


3.1 Rationale of the Upgrade

As a responsible company, BullyTheBear believes in involving shareholders in its major decisions. While sole responsibility and decision eventually rests on the management, the Chairman still believes in seeking honest and prompt feedback. Below are the key reasons for the Upgrade:

(a) As mentioned in the Circular, BullyTheBear is a shareholder friendly company. There are currently some small amounts of cash and cash equivalents held in the advertising revenue of BullyTheBear account as mentioned the 1HFY08 results announcement dated 4th June, 2008. While small, it is not insignificant. The Chairman wishes to reward shareholders for their continued loyalty to the BullyTheBear. Consider this the dividend for supporting (and continuing to support) BullyTheBear’s only source of revenue.

(b) It is the wish of the Chairman to give back to society what it had been given to him. Through the tiny space occupied by the current cbox, a lot of important discussions had been debated and ideas thrown around shareholders. By the Upgrade, it is hoped that such active discussion will continue to be an active feature of BullyTheBear. The Chairman would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all the regulars and not-so-regulars who frequent the cbox daily like the neighborhood’s kopitiam.

(c) Though this is not a serious and prevalent problems yet, the Upgrade will prevent impersonation of regular users of cbox as the premium version allows the user to password protect their nickname. This protects both the integrity and credibility of users – two of the important tenet that is held closely by BullyTheBear’s management.


3.2 Financial effects of the Upgrade

The cost of the Upgrade will be borne solely by BullyTheBear internal cash/cash equivalents, funded entirely by the advertisement revenue generated while serving the shareholders. There are no plans to issue rights shares or rights warrants to fund this Upgrade. Depending on the period of the Upgrade, this exercise will set BullyTheBear’s account by anything from USD 6 to USD 35 or an equivalent of SGD 8.40 to SGD 49.00 based on the Exchange rate.

Donations are welcomed, of course. For those donors who are afraid of conflict of interest between serving the good of BullyTheBear and the self-serving good of fattening the Chairman’s bank account, there is an option of buying the Upgrade as a gift. More details can be found here.


3.3 Possible effects of the Upgrade

Since the premium cbox will have auto-refresh, the Chairman fears that this might slow down the speed of downloading BullyTheBear’s site contents. Since there is a 30-days money back guarantee, if there is ever a noticeable slowdown in the access speed, the Upgrade will be downgraded as soon as possible.

Other than this, other possible effects could be an increased usage by shareholders and possibly new shareholders. Disruptive personnel with wild rantings of “Go and Die” and spamming of websites can also be controlled more effectively, ensuring a more conducive environment for the benefit of shareholders.


4 Conclusions

The Chairman would like shareholders to give honest and prompt feedback on the Upgrade. Shareholders can do so by clicking the comments button at the end of this Circular and they can be sure that the Chairman will address their concerns and feedback within 1 working day. The Chairman would like to recommend:

(a) Upgrade period of 12 months, with an expense of USD 20.00 or SGD 28.00 based on the Exchange rate

(b) request active shareholders to visit the cbox website for more information, though most of the key information had been listed in this Circular.