SALT LAKE CITY, March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com(R) today reports that per the DTCC's March 10 Security Position Listing, there are 8,970,394 Overstock.com shares on deposit at the DTCC and that the NASDAQ reported short interest in Overstock.com of 9,578,481 shares for the same week. Thus, Overstock.com's reported short interest is now 107% of the shares available to be shorted.
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Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said, "The decimal is not misplaced -- we have cracked the speed of light. It is my understanding that some shareholders (e.g., pension funds) might have asked that their shares not be made available to shorts, thus reducing the 8.97 million shares the DTCC has available for lending. I also understand that the 9.58 million stated short interest does not include failed-to-deliver short sales, failed-to-deliver long sales, another category that the DTCC now cryptically calls, 'open positions,' or lending outside the DTCC (i.e., 'ex-clearing'), which only two guys on Staten Island understand. Thus the real ratio is anyone's guess, but it's somewhere between 107% and infinity. On a positive note, the DTCC continues to maintain that their Stock Borrow Program does not permit the creation of new or counterfeit shares: I think that's good, because otherwise this situation could be getting out of control."
About Overstock.com
Overstock.com, Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer, offering discount, brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. The company offers its customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering its suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel. Overstock.com, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ National Market System and can be found online at http://www.overstock.com/.
Overstock.com is a registered trademark of Overstock.com, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding cracking the speed of light, whether the short position is out of control, and such other risks as identified in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and all our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which contain and identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements.
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