The company has put together a handy dandy Power Point presentation designed to convince investors that they're actually doing a great job -- stock price be darned. I'll summarize it this way: "Brownie, we're doing a heck of a job and, although we never purchase stock and have sold shares frequently in the past, our strategy that has failed miserably will actually start to work soon. If not, we'll just have to survive on our bloated salaries and undeserved bonuses."
Not to be outdone, Biglari responded with an on-point letter, skewering the company's propaganda:
Over the last decade -- an ample period of time to judge long-term performance -- the members of the current board have had their chance to amass value for you. They have failed . . . In quantifiable terms, during the last ten years they have spent approximately $566 million in capital, yet operating profit declined and negative shareholder returns were produced! An examination of the figures reveals that the stock price in 1998 rose as high as $18.75 but now sits at $7.65 for a loss of almost 60%, notwithstanding the time value of money . . ."
Biglari closed by saying that he is "confident of winning" his battle for control of the company, and I'm inclined to agree. No one in their right mind would vote to keep the current board in place given its track record.
