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Blucora (i.e. Infospace): Worse Than Blinkx plc & Babylon Ltd

Gotham City Research LLC
Feb 18, 2014
2 min read

Gotham City Research initiates coverage on Blucora, Inc (a.k.a. Infospace).

“Google’s first step is easy: Fire InfoSpace (a.k.a. Blucora). Google doesn’t need InfoSpace, and there’s zero reason for this relationship to continue in light of InfoSpace’s repeated failings.”

– Harvard Business School Professor Benjamin Edelman, author of The Darker Side of Blinkx, and the “Doogie Howser of online investigative work” according to former federal prosecutor Richard Boscovich

GOTHAM CITY RESEARCH’S OPINIONS

  • +60% of BCOR’s revenue will evaporate in coming quarters, as Google realizes it is better off without BCOR. Google and Yahoo can walk away from Blucora any time.

  • At least 50% of BCOR’s traffic is derived from malware, click fraud, illicit traffic (e.g. child pornography), and otherwise suspect traffic.

  • Blucora and its partners’ practices will receive scrutiny from Google, advertisers, FTC, DOJ, FBI, IRS, &/or the SEC.

  • BCOR shares are worth no more than $5.00/share, and <$1.00/share if BCOR compensates affected parties.

SUMMARY OF FACTS

  • 94.81% of Infospace.com visitors go to css.infospace.com, a known redirect virus/browser hijacker.

  • Infospace.com/Iminent.com generate clicks via cloaking, a practice forbidden per Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

  • 3 of dogpile’s Top 10 search words are child porn-related. Webcrawler aggressively purchased child porn search traffic in recent quarters.

  • Google prohibits advertising related to child pornography.

  • 80+% of webcrawler’s visitors originate from outside the US, yet only ~1% of BCOR’s revenues are international.

  • Ads displayed in Blucora-branded search results violate requirements set in their 2011 Amended Agreement.

  • Metacrawler is the 3,301st most visited site, yet is defunct.

  • ~10% decline in Google revenues wipes ~50% of BCOR EPS.

  • BCOR has a storied history of defrauding investors, customers, and vendors over the last 15+ years.

  • Free cash flow has gone negative over the last 9 months.

  • ~50% of recent cash flow from operations consists of increases in accrued liabilities.

  • Non-GAAP reporting, not seen since 2003, is back.

  • Audit fees declined sharply, after changing auditors in ‘12.

  • Gotham City Research contacted Blucora on several

  • occasions and did not hear back from the Company.

The full report:

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10 Comments


xin wang
Oct 21

This Blucora report is brutal-94.81% of their traffic being redirect viruses really shows how deep the rot goes, makes me wonder if Google even cares anymore. Honestly though, I'd rather spend my time on something legit like minimax h3 image to video; you just upload a still, describe what you want, and get a clean 768p MP4 right in the browser with no ComfyUI headaches at all.

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minthaylanaminthay
Sep 30

2048 is a simple and entertaining puzzle game that is easy to learn but can become challenging as you continue playing. The game is based on numbers, movement, and strategy. Your main goal is to combine matching numbered tiles until you create a tile with the number 2048.


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showen
Sep 25

Snow Rider reminds me of Slope Rider because both require good timing and control as the track gets faster. Still, the snowy sled theme gives Snow Rider its own personality.

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Ethan Parker
Ethan Parker
Jul 24

Me gusta consultar la loteria nacional aquí porque la información está bien organizada y resulta fácil de entender. Los resultados aparecen ordenados por sorteo, facilitando la búsqueda y permitiendo revisar los números recientes sin perder tiempo.

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linda WU
linda WU
Jul 12

I've been dissecting this financial data all morning, only taking a brief ragdollhit gaming break to rest my eyes. Institutional longs are about to get absolutely crushed here

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