Vinco Ventures (NASDAQ:BBIG) stock reminds me of old sayings and song lyrics.
Like, a fool and his money are soon parted. A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.
“Just like every fool day trader, I thought I was a corporate raider.”
Or, if you prefer. “What a fool believes he sees no wise man has the power to reason away.”
Today it all happens on Reddit, where anyone can have an opinion and usually does. BBIG stock is often a big topic there, and there remain IDs there pumping the stock. Sadly, there also remain people holding it.
Fortunately, you only need to know one name to pass on Vinco Ventures stock.
The Moviepass Guy
That name is Ted Farnsworth. Farnsworth bought a majority stake in Vinco in February, through a company named Zash Media.
Where have we seen Farnsworth’s name before? That’s right, MoviePass. You remember MoviePass, don’t you? For a single monthly fee, get into all the movie theaters you want, see all the movies? Well before the pandemic, MoviePass crashed and burned. Somehow, Farnsworth walked away. Now he’s back.
Farnsworth got Vinco into the NFT business, an album from a rapper you never heard of, through a subsidiary in which the rapper had invested.
Next, Vinco announced it would spin off a crypto company to be called Cryptyde. This was to happen on Oct. 15. It hasn’t happened yet.
A Closer Look at BBIG Stock
Through all this, Vinco’s fans were pumping up the stock on Reddit. They promised it would go to the Moon.
It did get over $10/share, briefly, in September. It tried again in October, getting over $8. Then the date came and went. BBIG stock trades today at around $4.50.
Anyone can comment on anything on Reddit behind a screen name. One of the big boosters of BBIG right now has the screen name Fantasista123.
Among the other names this ID has pushed recently are Paysafe (NASDAQ:PSFE), down 42% in the last six months, and Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR), which hasn’t seen $1 since July. This is not Warren Buffett. At last report Fantasista123 still held 3,500 shares was waiting to hear more on the Cryptyde deal.
NFTs are a hot topic, which can make BBIG a hot stock. If Cryptyde, which proposes to launch an NFT marketplace, were to get off the ground, this could be a hot stock again. After all, BBIG began the year at $1.35. If you bought in January, you have a profit.
Right now, most of the Redditors seem to be closing out their positions. That’s why the stock is falling.
Management still expects the Cryptyde spin-off to happen, this time on December 27, to qualify as a tax-free transaction. The company has bought an ad outfit called Adrizer and plans to change its name to Zash.
The Bottom Line
All this chopping-and-changing looks like smoke and mirrors to our Alex Sirois. It always looked that way to me.
Muslim Farooque also recommends you not get on the hype train around this stock. Alert readers may note that Lisa King, the new CEO, came on in February. They may note that Zash, which took majority control in February, is controlled by Farnsworth.
I could be wrong. Maybe Ted Farnsworth is a genius. Maybe he’s about to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
This is just not how I like to make money. It’s the kind of deal my late father loved, standing alongside some sharpie. Just let me close this story with a brief confession.
Dad died broke.
On the date of publication, Dana Blankenhorn held no positions in stocks mentioned in this story. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. Just in time for Halloween he has a collection of COVID-19 stories https://www.amazon.com/Bridget-OFlynn-Virus-COVID-19-Pandemic-ebook/dp/B09K8PSQC8/ at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or tweet him at @danablankenhorn. He writes a Substack newsletter, Facing the Future, which covers technology, markets, and politics.
