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Plus SMS Holdings came under the microscope of The Business in October because of an investigation into the rise, ensuing scandal and subsequent share price collapse of the text message company.
Plus SMS was the idea of Australian Garry Donoghue. The company joined the NZX in July 2005 through a back-door listing into RetailX.
The plan was to make money by accessing cellphone number ranges from around the world so companies could run global text message campaigns and competitions using single codes.
For example, New Zealand's country code of 64 could equate to "ni" and could then potentially be used for the word "Nike".
After reaching agreements with the relevant telecommunication carriers and regulators, messages could be routed over existing infrastructure using the settlement processes in place for payment.
For the back-door listing the then non-operational Plus SMS was valued at $12.5 million - paid for with 240 million new RetailX shares at 5c each, 30,000 options exercisable at 10c and $565,000 in cash.
Former director David Stubbs said Auckland businessmen John Sorenson and Ken Wikeley were "chartered" in to recruit investors for the placement.
Sorenson and Wikeley were well known for their involvement in several back-door listings.
These included the series of transactions that turned Regal Salmon into Queen Charlotte Holdings, then Aquaria 21, then AQL, and finally organic weedkiller company Certified Organics.
Although Plus SMS had not generated any revenue the share price soared, peaking at 82c in November 2005, with a market capitalisation of $262 million.
A market feeding frenzy was the description from Viking Capital founder Brent King who was issued with options as part of the listing.
Considering the nature of the firm, the smart money would have known to sell out above 80c, he said.
Online comment from both sides of the fence had been building, with signs that some people on the ShareChat forum were posting under multiple aliases.
At one point the chat thread was removed and a large amount of time was spent moderating the site, although publisher Philip Macalister said he saw no evidence of insiders ramping shares.
But in September, the share price collapsed after the company admitted making incorrect statements, Garry Donoghue and chairman Jim Bracknell resigned and the Securities Commission started an inquiry.
The company had claimed ownership of thousands of vanity short codes, but had access to little more than 100.
Another bombshell followed later that month when the company admitted that contracts it had negotiated with various telecom operators were mainly for fixed-line numbers and therefore unsuitable.
However, despite the spectacular crash, this was not the end for Plus SMS.
In June, the company appointed a new chief executive, Christopher Tiensch.
He carried out a review which uncovered contract issues.
Tiensch remained convinced Plus SMS could make money.
The company is planning to raise $8 million through a placement of 80 million new shares at 10c each to a Jersey investment firm, Hewon Capital, other investors and senior executives.
Tiensch said the new capital would see the firm through to profitability.
Apart from the original single-code global text message campaign concept Tiensch plans to make money from production of interactive mobile content, and by providing connectivity and outsourcing mobile data.
A messaging hub in Guernsey is due to go live at the end of this month, and would be used to transit messages for operators where they did not have roaming agreements or had poor connectivity.
Last month, Plus SMS completed the purchase of mobile content provider Content Technology Mexico for US$1.2 million in cash and 10 million Plus SMS shares at 20c each over a two-year period - a deal expected to give the company its first sales revenue.
Plus SMS shares closed unchanged on Friday at 17c.
