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TravelZoo Still Willing To Pay For Gimmick Shares
from the odd dept
Earlier this year we noted that many, many people appeared to have completely forgotten that they had signed up with TravelZoo during the bubble. Travelzoo's initial gimmick to get users is that they gave you free shares in the company for signing up. It appeared that most people assumed, like so many bubble-era gimmicks, that the company behind it simply faded away. However, the company survived, and the stock actually has done quite well. The only problem was that those who owned shares were supposed to make a claim by April. However, after that news came out, some people got upset that they missed the deadline and (amazingly) Travelzoo decided to honor those requests, saying they would pay out in cash what the shares were worth... and yet still most people have completely ignored the offer, which can be worth somewhere between $500 to $1600 for an awful lot of people.
Reader Comments
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I was a shareholder
I was a shareholder till a week ago. As a subscriber to their newsletter and referrer of 3 subscribers, I got 8 shares when they distributed them. For a while it was worth like $4, so I mainly ignored, but when I read a TheStreet.com editorial on TZOO rise, I requested my certificate, when the stock passed $65 and sold at $82. Bummer, I know, it hit $100 recently, I am still puzzled about their stock growth, but free money is free money.
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Re: I was a shareholder
so to whom and how do i contact the person in order for me to claim my shares? thanks.
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I was a shareholder too until a month ago...
I had signed up in 1998. I signed up for the updated share info and got 3 shares. It split to six shares. I sold it for $71.50. I then shot up to over 105 and came back to the 80's last i saw.
It was nice to get $410 for nothing more than signing up for a web site. I've never even used the product. But-they do have great earnings and profit from-gasp-internet advertising.
The reason for the run-up was due to the small number of shares available to trade. A lot of people sold this stock short before their last quarter earnings. Shares needed to be purchased to cover the short positions. Due to the high demand for so little available stock to cover those positions, the price went at a premium. Since most short sellers are now covered, the stock is coming back down to earth. The average share was held for less than a day during the peak of trading.
There are 2 reasons for the lack of shares. 1) The CEO owns about 80% I think, of all shares. 2) There are, by my best guess, a lot of people like me, with a handful of shares, that are just sitting idle and unclaimed.
The extension mentioned is for those who did not sign up for their updated stockholder information. I had to send in some share forms, opened a Sharebuilder account and sold the stocks for $15 commision. It cost me about $40 out of pocket with overnight fees and trips to the bank, but it was worth the effort.
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Re: I was a shareholder too until a month ago...
How did you get a hold of your free stock?
Travelzoo doesn't make it easy.
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Re: Re: I was a shareholder too until a month ago.
I would sure like to know how to go about checking on free shares issued to me when Travelzoo first started out ..
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Travelzoo free shares
Mike,
I was one of those who subscribed for Travelzoo's newsletter and received three free shares of the company.
By now I have lost information on the account, and since I changed email address I stopped receiving their newsletter as well.
The company's web site suggests in lieu of account number that I enter email address I was registered under... but then says "unknown email address".
Their contact list does not have a phone number or email address. I wrote them a letter but not sure they will make good on the promise (they can say "we don't have any information").
Is there a way for me to recover my shares or whatever they are worth now?
I will highly appreciate any advice you can give.
Thank you,
--- Steve
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Re: Travelzoo free shares
I just ran across some of my old papers and found my Travelzoo info. I too had forgotten about signing up for shares, and have also changed email addresses. I don't know anything about owning shares but am willing to learn. Did you ever find out how to go about getting (and redeeming?) your shares? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks a lot!
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Shares of Stock in Travelzoo
I am supposed to have 8 shares of Travelzoo stock. How can I find out what they are worth?
Thanks.
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Free Travelzoo Stock
I took advantage of the free Travelzoo stock years ago. I sent the offer to a few of my friends, asking them to use my email as a referral, and next thing I knew, I had my 10 shares, even though they were essentially worthless at the time. I didn't lose hope. I kept check on the website and the status of the stock, updated info as needed, and registered when asked to. The stock finally went public and has even split since then, leaving me with 20 shares of stock that were, at one time, worth $100 each.
Not a bad return on an investment of only time and patience.
If there are ever any more free stock offerings, I will be the first in line. It is quite amusing to read the skeptical stories that you can still find on the internet from 1998 when the offer was made. I figured I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. This time I was right.
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Re: Free Travelzoo Stock
A new company that will be coming out soon is giving out free stock! Here's the link:
http://www.emax.net/?rid=22845e746cea4a0b64
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Unclaimed Travelzoo Free Stocks
I also still have the serial numbers of the 3 free shares from back in 1998. I've written TravelZoo a letter (seems the only way to contact them) but haven't heard back. Has anyone got any recent info on this?
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Re: Unclaimed Travelzoo Free Stocks
Are my travelzoo stocks still good. Here are the numbers #2797560 #2797661 #2797562 as of July 9,1998. As of Sept.9,2002 my acct # is 279756. After the split I have 8 shares. Are these still valid.
Sharlene Frintz 309-266-6608
3o5 N Third
Morton,IL 61550
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shares
I recently found my three free share numbers that I recieved in 1998. I am having trouble accessing any information on these. Is there any hope? I would love some insight on this. I have since then changed my e-mail address and moved out of the state I was living in at the time.
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TravelZoo
I have 16 shares of the stock from signing up and signing up others under me. I am holding onto them
I don't think travel zoo is going to fail.
You did have to convert your free shares into real shares a couple years back. I did and requested the stock certificates.
hopefully they will grow and the stocks will split and continue to do well.
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TravelZoo
I also signed up for the email way back when to get the free shares. The email address that I had signed up was no longer valid, but I follow up on their instructions to get my shares issued to me. If you provided your correct personal information in the first place when you signed up for the email, you would not have a problem providing identity info to get the shares. I sold my shares in the mid 70's to make something over $400 - which of course I had to pay taxes on. You can follow links from TravelZoo.com to their Investor Relations section to get more details. They direct you to http://www.corporate.travelzoo.com/2002/ for "Program for Previous Stockholders Who Missed Deadline". Hope this is helpful.
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Travelzoo free shares
I got the free travelzoo shares back in 1998 and do not have the same email address and am having a hard time finding the papers that were printed out with proof of shares.. does anyone know how to resolve this problem? I cant even remember half of my old email addresses... It's not fair that they put a expiration date on it.
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eMax
What do you know about the eMax free stock sign up? Seems to be something similar to Travel Zoo....
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Free Shares from Travelzoo
Is the certificate conversion required, and is it still going on? Are my shares still on record with you? CG
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Travelzoo free shares
I received free shares when Travelzoo started up ..I believe there were four I wonder if their redemption offer still stands ? Would you mind informing me of the status on the shares ..I would greatly appreciate it ...
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free shares
I got a number of shares..forgot exact how many. My email has changed. Can I still get the shares or cash in somehow? Please let me know. Thanks.
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travelzoo stock
I signed up for free stocks back in 1998 when I worked for MCI . I have changed emails several times & need to know how to find out how much stock I have what they are worth and what I can do with them now.
Thanks,
Sharon
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Re: travelzoo stock
Hi, did you ever find out how much they are worth?, and if we can still cash them in. Please let me know if you did as I have been trying to contact someone about my shares. Thanks.
Joanne
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shares
I also have 6 shares that I singed up for in 1998, and I have my member id and password but no papers any longer. I have tried seveal time to contact Travel Zoo but they make it really difficult. Can we still collect the shares even though the date was April, and if it was April why wasn't I notified of the date to cash in shares.
I think I am going to write to the company.
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shares
I also have 6 shares that I singed up for in 1998, and I have my member id and password but no papers any longer. I have tried seveal time to contact Travel Zoo but they make it really difficult. Can we still collect the shares even though the date was April, and if it was April why wasn't I notified of the date to cash in shares.
I think I am going to write to the company.
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