What exactly did WorldCo do wrong?

[alanm]

There's lots of talk about Worldco management being crooked, criminal, communist, evil-smelling, etc.

What exactly did they do, other than manage their (and their members') business badly? Did the members get regular copies of the financials, and did they reveal a business that apparently was in trouble for some time, or did they hide it from everyone?

 

[zdreg]

Quote from alanm:

There's lots of talk about Worldco management being crooked, criminal, communist, evil-smelling, etc.

What exactly did they do, other than manage their (and their members') business badly? Did the members get regular copies of the financials, and did they reveal a business that apparently was in trouble for some time, or did they hide it from everyone?

co. is trying to get from under rental lease obligations.
arrogance and hubris is more like it.
criminal-time will tell.
created a panic situation by not returning capital to a big trader

 

[zdreg]

Quote from eeleusnosaj:

From what I understand:

They were more concerned with sales, as opposed to revenue. When they concentrated on their sales numbers (at lower prices), they recieved bonuses. This lead to the debt, and subsequent fall of World Com.

This probably wouldn't have been to bad if they didn't employ shady accounting practices to cover up this fact.

where is proof of shady accounting practices?
more likely they decided that day trading was not in their future and they cut and ran to conserve cash

 

[tjuggler]

Is this how you would describe Worldco's recruiting up until the s__t hit the fan? unconscionable, but not surprising.

 

[silk]

what killed worldco is that traders started trading 50% fewer shares this year versus last year (because the market sucks bad for trading and few have been able to make much money). Also those same traders who were trading 50% less volume had much better commission rates in 2003 over 2002 because of competition.

So combine a 75% drop in revenue with bloated fixed costs and they decided to cut and run.

This could happen to any firm. Just look at LAB, they are the specialist and they are almost gone.

 

[burnin]

Quote from silk:

what killed worldco is that traders started trading 50% fewer shares this year versus last year (because the market sucks bad for trading and few have been able to make much money). Also those same traders who were trading 50% less volume had much better commission rates in 2003 over 2002 because of competition.

So combine a 75% drop in revenue with bloated fixed costs and they decided to cut and run.

This could happen to any firm. Just look at LAB, they are the specialist and they are almost gone.

sorry silk,
it couldnt happen to every firm, every firm dosent have BLOATED FIXED COSTS. Its true the environment has gotten tougher for everyone but the dopes who ran worldco couldnt run a lemonade stand

 

[I Missed Boat]

Quote from alanm:

There's lots of talk about Worldco management being crooked, criminal, communist, evil-smelling, etc.

What exactly did they do, other than manage their (and their members') business badly? Did the members get regular copies of the financials, and did they reveal a business that apparently was in trouble for some time, or did they hide it from everyone?

they completely hid it, including taking money from new and existing traders up until the end and making all kinds of promises they had no intention of keeping.

 

[rttrader1]

Our firm just ran an add in Monster.com, you would not believe the stories I heard from Worldco traders around the country...unfortunately almost to a man, all of them had their trading capital tied up still at Worldco....what a uncomfortable place to be. I really feel for these guys as quit a few are really shaken up.

rttrader1 -

 

[spyderman]

Question....how many other prop shops have gone under? Broadway? Hartland? Lions group? Harbor? How is shonfeld and hold brothers doing?

My point is give amateurs 10 or 20:1 margin....we all know 90% will fail? So can I assume in the end.....when the final chapter is written that 90% of prop (chop) shops will fail?

 

[CalTrader]

Quote from alanm:

There's lots of talk about Worldco management being crooked, criminal, communist, evil-smelling, etc.

What exactly did they do, other than manage their (and their members') business badly? Did the members get regular copies of the financials, and did they reveal a business that apparently was in trouble for some time, or did they hide it from everyone?

...From the stories it just sounds like classic management issues.
Its not easy to manage effectively during changing industry conditions. Retooling the business model and repositioning a company takes special skills. To me all the stories make it appear that nobody had a firm grip on the reigns of the company and they were just letting their employees run wild. ......