Wow…that’s a great way to get new business out of Sprint.  Maybe RW is counting on the monetary penalties as his next round of funding.

The truth is Elfman got totally duped by RW and co. on the numbers.  What he thought he was getting in limited disclosure, versus what he later discovered were two different things.  Shame on both sides!  The real losers are all the hard-working employees that made the two companies what they WERE.  It’s unfortunate that greed and narcissism got in the way.  It could have been a successful merger.  Now it’s a complete disaster.  Oh yeah, where was uncle Carl in all this?  Icahn asleep at the wheel or punch drunk on RW’s Kool-Aid?

Threatening ex-employees, suing to get out of contracts, and now suing Elfman for cutting out after cutting up Motricity. I’m not surprised to hear this.

ahhhh….the gift that keeps giving.  When was the last time anything was said about Motricity that related to the the growth of the business.  If this saga weren’t so entertaining, it would be pathetic. 

Carl - if you’re out there, would you please escort Mr, Wuerch back to the circus, they are missing a clown.

Wow did I read that right?  Motricity has raised $500m; for what is a simple business.  RW - you’re a genius!!  Looks like the investors in Motricity went to the same business schools as the guys running the mortgage industry :-)

Someone needs to capture all the comments posted on the threads about Motricity on this site and post it someplace… like MotricitySucks.com.  Oh yeah, I wonder if Handango still owns that address? Remember when they bought that back when Motricity announced their new name changing from PowerByHand?  Hilarious.

WOW - Handango STILL owns MotricitySucks.com.  That is hysterical.  They need to put something up there like a redirect or thread list for this site.  WhoIs info:

Registrant:
Handango, Inc
ATTN: MOTRICITYSUCKS.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA. 20172-0447

It would be really interesting if a reporter could do a little research, read the court documents, and tell us more details of what’s going on.  Motricity has been in the balderdash business for so long that these court documents, where they can’t get away with just making up stories and numbers, are typically really enlightening.  One question I have is whose decision it was to file this lawsuit.  Dollars to doughnuts it was Uncle Carl.  I expect he wanted some professional, experienced, educated management for his new baby.  In addition, from what we read, RW was probably happy to see SE go, probable even encouraged it sotto voce, and probably wouldn’t want to go into litigation, given it’s propensity to air dirty laundry for all the world (customers, employees, etc.).

When is this thing just going to dry up and blow away, anyway?  The economy must have really shut down the sort of impulse buys Motricity facilititates, and all the new projections for new cell phone sales (or lack thereof) must have a HUGE impact on Motricity’s hockey stick (I’m sure) revenue and profit projections.

Here are the court documents:

http://dw.courts.wa.gov/index.cfm?fa=home.casesummary&crt_itl_nu=S17&casenumber=08-2-23585-8&searchtype=sName&token=0A642133D698D3523FC10B89C921E9A4&dt=202CC18B0FB1DB41D6DD9B7CCCAD5494

I’ll second Sadbuttrue’s comments about discovering one bad thing after another about the NC operations.  Unfortunately with MOT as the buyer, the INSP team really wasn’t able to do much due diligence before the transaction closed.  MOT wanted the sr mgmt team but was dumb in not making them staying around a condition of the transaction.  SE was smart to bail, as were the others on the mgmt team (Chaplin, Reisenauer, Thorkildsen).  I hear their lawyer left after she learned that RW threatened to sue SE despite it blowing up the Sprint relationship.  Now they’ve actually gone and done it.  Amazing.

@ Former INSPMOT: spot on, except that Thorkildsen didn’t bail. He was told by RW that his role was gone - no R&D anymore?

Can you pay out a court settlement entirely in sweater vests?

Watching this company from afar beats any soap opera, bar Battlestar…

How can you not be amazed with RW’s consistency:

1) RW has remained at the top while living an extravagant lifestyle despite the poor condition of his company or the broader economy <supposedly RW “raised a round” with God a few years back and is entitled to this lifestyle for perpetuity>.
2) According to RW, it’s not his fault - which is why the sr leadership team must be turned over on a regular basis <they simply can’t deliver on the dream>.
3) He consistently raises vast sums of money <I now know the meaning of “a sucker is born every day”>.
4) Motricity consistently loses money and NEVER returns a cent to shareholders <this is what happens to poor suckers>.
5) Return to #1 and repeat <very impressive to say the least>.

Only puzzling part is Ichan - his success clearly doesn’t land him in with the suckers .

Regarding Icahn’s involvement, if you read and listen to Icahn’s comments on the situation, it’s clear that he regards the investment as a HUGE mistake made by his son.  His son got snookered, recommended the investment to Carl, Carl made the investment, Carl put his son on the board, Carl realized the truth, Carl yanked his son off the board (and probably put him at the reception desk rather than the trading desk), Carl put himself and his number 1 guy, a vicious cost cutter, on the board, and they’re waiting it all out.  So Carl isn’t a “sucker” in the sense of the rest of the investors, but maybe his son is, and Carl was, just one time and never again, a sucker for family sales pitches.

There hasn’t been much motricity news lately.  I’ve been expecting to read either about lost contracts, layoffs, and shutting doors OR a big merger or acquisition.  What’s going on over there?

A merger or acquisition is most likely.  Layoffs could come before or after that depending on when a suitor can be found - tough in the current environment.    An out and out collapse is unlikely.

RW can’t even sell his Raleigh house after several months of relistings and repricings in one of the strongest real estate markets in the country.  Can’t keep selling the dream to senior management as they dive like rats off a sinking ship.  So, why is he in charge, again?  One might wonder how all the investors who bet on him feel…

Anyone know how the suit is going?

Here’s the latest that I’ve heard:

1) MOT no longer paying for employee parking in the building garage (>$180/month each)
2) MOT no longer providing 401(k) matching
3) MOT not giving raises this year.

I wonder if they actually made a profit last year…

Dollars to doughnuts it was Uncle Carl.  I expect he wanted some professional, experienced, educated management for his new baby.  In addition, from what we read, RW was probably happy to see SE go, probable even encouraged it sotto voce, and probably wouldn’t want to go into litigation,