Yahoo! stock performance in 2000. See a trend?
Yahoo! Blawgletter suspects that Michael Lessin wishes he’d never heard the word and that he rues even more that he invested $5.6 million in the eponymous stock.
After losing his entire Yahoo! investment when the tech bubble burst in 2000, Mr. Lessin arbitrated his claims to recover the loss against Merrill Lynch and his broker there. After a six-day hearing, a panel of three NASD arbitrators awarded him a paltry $32,975. The D.C. Circuit upheld confirmation of the award despite Mr. Lessin’s arguments that the panel improperly excluded testimony by a second expert and manifestly disregarded the law in awarding him so little. Lessin v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., No. 06-7067 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 16, 2007).
Don’t cry too much for Mr. Lessin. His account enrollment forms cited his investment goal as "speculation" and his appetite for risk as "aggressive". The panel appears to have concluded that Mr. Lessin authored his own non-diversification strategy and his portfolio’s resulting demise.
Barry Barnett
