Overstock.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Direct and Partner. It offers brand name, non-brand name, and closeout products, including furniture, home decor, bedding and bath, housewares, jewelry and watches, apparel and designer accessories, health and beauty products, electronics and computers, and sporting goods, among other products; and sells various books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and video games. The company also provides handcraft, fresh produce and other food, and insurance products. Overstock.com, Inc. sells its products and services through its Internet Websites located at overstock.com, o.co, and o.biz, as well as through the United States based third party logistics providers to international customer. The company was formerly known as D2-Discounts Direct and changed its name to Overstock.com, Inc. in October 1999. Overstock.com, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Midvale, Utah.
Yes. Overstock.com CEO aims to sell or reorganize e-commerce business so he can focus on blockchain Evelyn Cheng CNBCDecember 14, 2017 <img alt="" class="StretchedBox W(100%) H(100%) ie-7_H(a)" src="https://s.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6...run/cnbc.com/7a6975df5863f370b4e8a4cc48f715bc" itemprop="url"/> Overstock.com CEO aims to sell or reorganize e-commerce business so he can focus on blockchain Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne said he expects to have a deal in the next three months on selling or reorganizing the company's retail business to focus on blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin (Exchange: BTC=) . "My goal is [within] 60 to 90 days we walk away from this," Byrne told CNBC Wednesday in reference to the plan. He said he has an "ethical obligation" to focus for the next five years on his newly announced De Soto joint venture for a blockchain-based global property registry. "We think we can change the world for 5 billion people." Byrne said the company is looking at three options for its home goods e-commerce business:First, a traditional brick-and-mortar business could buy the operations.Second, a "strategic investor, probably a guy out of Asia" could invest in the business. An approach from a wealthy Asian investor prompted Byrne to ask Guggenheim to help the company explore sale options, he said. Third, the company could "go private" with a private equity company such as Bain, Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) or KKR (NYSE: KKR) and "go off the market for two years" in order to integrate Overstock's blockchain work with the retail arm. Byrne had indicated on Overstock.com's third-quarter earnings call that he could sell the retail business.The only Wall Street analyst covering the stock, D.A. Davidson's Tom Forte, had subsequently raised his price target on the stock to $85 a share, with the retail business accounting for $58 a share.Marc Cohodes, a noted short-seller who announced his positive turn on the stock in October, said Wednesday he estimates the retail business is worth about $60 to $90 a share.Those estimates would value the e-commerce arm at about $1.5 billion to $2.25 billion, since Overstock.com has 25.02 million shares outstanding.Shares of Overstock.com traded little changed Thursday after gaining 13.9 percent Wednesday to $60.90 a share after news of the company's for-profit joint venture with well-known Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. However, Byrne told CNBC Wednesday that while he expects the venture to generate revenue, making money is not the primary goal.Overstock's shares have now surged 248 percent this year and have a market value of $1.5 billion as investors bet the company's work on blockchain could reap benefits similar to the meteoric surge of digital currency bitcoin, which was the first application of blockchain technology. The cryptocurrency has leaped more than 1,600 percent this year, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index.Blockchain eliminates the need for a third-party intermediary by creating a rapid, permanent record of transactions in a network.Byrne has a big vision for his investments in the technology, which began when Overstock launched Medici Ventures in 2014. Medici's subsidiary has majority ownership of tZero, which said in September it is launching an SEC-compliant platform for trading digital coins. TZero is set to begin its initial coin offering on Monday and plans to raise $500 million. TZero already operates a blockchain-based system for short-sellers. In addition to launching the digital coin-trading platform, Byrne said he is in contact with two countries about launching an overseas trading platform for coins that are considered "utility" tokens rather than "securities."Cohodes estimates Overstock's blockchain business could be worth far more than the e-commerce operations. He said Wednesday that tZero adds another $100 to $200 to the stock, an additional value of $2.5 billion to $5 billion. D.A. Davidson's Forte has said Medici Ventures and tZero are together worth at least $27 a share, or about $675.5 million. Overstock.com
And you wouldn't be wrong. I jumped aboard this thing around 18.50 earlier this year and saw a rip to the upside to the low 20's. However that rip to the upside was the start of serious dilution. The legacy business of Overstock is still losing a lot of money. They had been trying to sell it prior to the Q1 earnings, but were unsuccessful to the point where they decided to delay the sale for at least a year. Their T-Zero platform (which is really cool and could be a game changer for the trading/investment industry) needs funding, but the two prior deals that would've given them a $1.5 billion valuation - missed their deadlines. I stopped out breakeven and never looked back.
