GetMondo or GizFugu?: Carl Freer Appointed President of GetFugu

Enhanced mobile search marketing company, GetFugu (GFGU), filed an 8-K with the SEC on Friday to handle a bunch of housekeeping, the most notable item being the appointment of the company's largest shareholder (21%) and Co-Founder, Carl Freer, as President and board member. As part of the board appointment, Freer was granted 2mil options at a strike price of $0.37 (today's stock price) vesting over 3 years. Freer is (in)famous for his association with Gizmondo, the connected handheld gaming device he launched back in 2002, while Chairman of Tiger Telematics. The rise and dramatically scandalicious fall of that platform, the company, and some of the colorful characters associated with it, are the stuff of console and mobile games industry legend... giving rise to an extensive Wired article back in 2006 that, as I reported back in May, is currently being developed into a film.

The 8-K also addressed the settlement of pending litigation against the company from spurned investor SpongeTech (SPNG). It looks like GetFugu was able to make SpongeTech happy by issuing 5.25mil shares of common stock to an associated holding company, R.M. Enterprises International, in exchange for retaining the $1.75mil advance deposit it received during the investment negotiation process. GetFugu also has issued 20mil shares to two former company advisors, Amber Capital Corporation and Summit Trading Limited, to settle outstanding compensation claims. These two items lead one to believe that the company, in the wake of the commercial rollout of its app, is trying to clean up its act a bit to make it more attractive to additional investors or, potentially, an acquirer. But, if that's the case then the Freer move is a bizarre one... as you will see from several comments to my previous GetFugu posts, he's a polarizing character, to say the least.