Who is Vannini and what does he want?

[Dov]

Can anybody give me some info on this guy? I don't no much about him.

[Emfa]

He seems to have been a bit quiet lately. This filing may provide some useful info. Basically, he is/was a major shareholder. As to what he wants - who knows???

[sgw2]

Mark Chipollini interviewed him before Pook was hired. The interview reveals how much of the agenda Pook inherited from Vannini.

http://www.autoracing1.com/MarkC/200...iInterview.htm

Vannini came from Comcast, where he first made his mark as a crusading investor. He is not somebody who can not be bought off. He wants things done "right" by his view. He is a reformer and unwavering about his views and desire for justice. He owns 8.53% of CART.

Vannini's views are recorded here in this letter he sent:

http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=...910Vannini.htm

[Lee Janotta]

Yeah. I don't like Vannini's vision, I think he's too idealistic. Though even he sees that getting some American _talent_ out there is essential to CART's survival.

[Jay]

Vannini is a Tony George without a big toy to play with.

[Dov]

Thanks for the info, guys!

According to Autosport Magazine major CART shareholder Jon Vannini is set to sue CART management after share prices plummeted to a new low. Speaking of last weeks financial release in which CART stated that they did not have the funds to complete the 2004 season Vannini said he was unhappy about the way that CART CEO and President Chris Pook handled the business side of things. “It really pains me at this stage,” he told Autosport, “I really don’t want to do it, but that’s the position I have been put in.” CART stock closed at 1.70 USD a share yesterday.

It looks to me like Vannini is putting his own interests ahead of CART's.

[sgw2]

Vannini is the reason you have Pook. Chris Pook and everything he has done are beholden to Vannini. Look at this Robin Miller column:

http://espn.go.com/rpm/cart/2001/1201/1288321.html

Lee,

Pook differed from Vannini (and Robin Miller) on the American drivers issue. He felt that going European was more important, and he said so. No ESP was withheld based on signing Haberfeld or Lemarie instead of Barron or Herta.

Dov,

CART's interests are a funny thing to say. Is it in CART's interest to be unethical and screw the shareholders?

Unlike Grosfeld, who let Forsythe buy him out, Vannini will stick to his guns. He does not differ from Forsythe or Heitzler or Pook on direction, but on ethics.

Here is the 13D Vannini filed concerning the COIs in CART

http://www.edgar-online.com/bin/cobr...2604&x=20&y=13

Is Vannini really a villian here?

You have to define what CART's interests are in terms of principles befoer you can state who is really acting for or against them.

Something to think about.

[Dov]

Cut the BS, sqw2! Vannini want's a bigger piece of the pie and he can't get it. Now he looks like a little kid who's gone to his mother to complain that his older brothers won't let him play with them.

[KC]

Vannini is looking to break down CART's stock and worth to the point that the remaining shareholders will sell to him cheap and he can privatize it. It s a common busines practice and he is leveraging himself into position.

[Liz]

I think KC has the answer.

[rush1]

Originally posted by KC
Vannini is looking to break down CART's stock and worth to the point that the remaining shareholders will sell to him cheap and he can privatize it. It s a common busines practice and he is leveraging himself into position.

That is if he has a spare $100 million to buy remaining shares and pay to operate CART in 2004, 2005. He and Forsythe have already lost millions. At some point you might have to cut your losses and move on, or sue to collect any assets in a defunct company.

[fordtc87]

then his goal is for the series to survive then right? You can't kill it and then bring it back. He may be going in a little different direction now. His ideas from 2001 weren't all that bad, but he may have rethought them by now. If he has spent 18 million on the series, maybe he will spend a little more and keep the cars running next year?

[Jay]

Interesting...his lawsuit never came about...

Yup, Dov and KC have it, and as usual sgw2 and rush1 are just trolling... Vannini is kind of like Tony George without a toy to play with. He wants power, and cries like a baby when he can't get it.

[indycool]

Vannini has been quoted as preparing a shareholder suit against CART. His investment of around $18 million in CART stock is now worth less than $2 million. If ANYBODY is driving the stock price down for a potential buyer to come in cheap, it wouldn't be Vannini. As for the shares, he only owns a little more than 8 percent of the company so he's not near the 15 percent threshold for the poison pill provisions. If he wanted more, he could just buy more on the cheap right now on the open market. MPH closed at an alltime low of $1.45 today on volume of 79,500 shares.

[indycool]

BTW, if anyone is driving the stock price down artificially, it's illegal and if it can be proven, whoever it is has a new neighbor in Martha Stewart.

[The Snout]

Originally posted by Jay
Interesting...his lawsuit never came about...

Yup, Dov and KC have it, and as usual sgw2 and rush1 are just trolling... Vannini is kind of like Tony George without a toy to play with. He wants power, and cries like a baby when he can't get it.

Wasn't the law suit due Friday last week or the week before or something ? Seemed to very suddenly go quiet and disappear.

[indycool]

Mark C. was predicting last Friday but something changed and it didn't happen. I imagine a bunch of lawyers are strategizing this some way, probably around MPH's second quarter 10Q announcement, which is due any day.

[Jay]

Mark C just gets his rumours from elsewhere...I think he got that one from Robin Miller who'd been saying the same thing. Much like Cart's sale...we'll see....