After bamboozling the public out of at least half a million in tax dollars, and suckering the Turner foundation of Springfield out of four million with broken promises of “hi-tech” jobs and prosperity, the nearly broke company has found a new investor:
Shareholders of Qbase Inc. are planning a “special meeting” Wednesday, Jan. 20, to discuss a reorganization of the company — and a $5 million investment into the company by a group of outside investors.
According to a company proxy statement obtained by the Dayton Daily News Tuesday, $1.3 million of that investment already has been advanced.
A proxy statement to Qbase shareholders outlining the meeting identifies Steve Baldwin — former chief executive of a Northern Virginia information technology company, Apptis Inc.— and his partners as new investors in the firm….
“Qbase is well beyond payment terms to more than 50 of its suppliers and subcontractors and several have threatened legal action due to non-payment,” the statement says.
The DDN goes on to say:
The statement also says Qbase cut monthly expenses by 70 percent from December 2008 until January 2010.
“The single largest area of expense reduction and change came from reductions in staff overall and by hiring new, different staff in order to fulfill government contracts,” the document says.
What they left out was that approximately 20 of the remaining 35 employees were told they had to go on commission or work for free on Jan 8 2010, [2] starting on the 11th. Yet, next Monday, they had new job postings on LinkedDayton. [3]
The real question is how the original 20 or so employees who put up stakes will be paid back on this next bundle of cash. Or will we begin to see more lawsuits like the one filed by Stakeholder Jodi Barnard? [4]
What’s still not clear is when the taxpayers will see the results from their “investment” (corporate welfare)- with a hundred and twenty jobs promised- and none delivered, it’s time to claw back the investment while there is money on the table.
If Bob Mills and Sam Morgan agreed to a debt-equity swap, they probably resigned to the fact that they’ll never get their money back. In the .001% chance that the new company does succeed, they’ll be rewarded a lot more with equity rather than just having the debt paid back. Since it seems what’s left of Qbase will be moving to Washington DC, the local taxpayers are without a doubt out of luck.
The Dayton Daily News blew away all the comments on the QBase story- wonder why? Still open for comments- might it be that people pointed out that I had all the dirt posted previously?
I like that you scooped them months ago. They put that “Breaking News” banner on this story like the Hindenburg had just exploded. They have not looked up to snuff lately. A few good articles here and there, but mostly nothing that you can sink your teeth into.
I wish you had a larger readership so more locals would know about stuff like this.
David:
The only way to fix this is to cut the top-line, there’s no room for graft and handouts when the taxes don’t get collected in the first place. The fact that this buffoonery can occur should be a good clue to voters that their tax rates are far too high.
the DDN either has no policy for how they deal with comments, or when they even allow them, or they just keep the policy a secret and change it every couple days. it’s pretty ridiculous. they obviously do not trust or respect their readers. it’s sad, really.
Dayton Daily News = Daily Disappointment.
I highly doubt the Mills Morgan do anything that is not in their best interest…I would wager that they hold the note on the building that Qbase is leasing so in effect they are trying to get them to the point where Qbase’s overhead could support the lease payments. I would also find it interesting if they are hiring lower waged employees and I wonder if they are billing them back to the government at the same rate as the previous workers?
Where is the Air Force Audit Agency on this one?
Well with friends like Turner, Hobson and Mills/Morgan, no need to worry, your tax money given to get this scam going is a good as lost as well as wasted on the projects that Qbase supports.
Mr. Esrati:
For clarification, is your problem with Qbase? Or with Qbase management and the direction they have taken?
DDN mentioned that current management will be assuming roles, but there will be a new president and CEO. If your problem is with management, then this change should excite you. Right? New management could <gasp!> do good things! It seems more like you’re anti-Qbase though? You seem intent to see the doors close and Qbase go bye-bye. Is that the goal? What happens to the 80+ families impacted? Many of these people are hard working, talented people who just want to do good.
Amy Montgomery:
They go work for one of the many other IT / government services body-shops huddled around WPAFB? There’s nothing special about QBase’s “technology”.
Luckily there will always be work for people like that, no matter how foolish those in high places might be.
@Amy Montgomery- thank you for joining the conversation.
Other companies didn’t sucker local governments into giving them our tax money.
Other companies didn’t force employees to donate to politicians who then made sure the money came to Qbase.
I don’t know where you get the 80 families- there are about 20 people working for Qbase right now.
I would like to see Mr. Pardue in prison- along with the politicians who misappropriated our tax dollars for private enterprise. That’s not why I pay taxes.
Thanks David. There ARE over 80 people currently employed by Qbase. 80 people + families = 80 families. Whoever told you 20 was lying or wrong. Relying on ex-employees who are already bitter for facts is bad practice:)
So… your grudge is with Qbase, not just the leadership. Thanks for clearing that up.
Jsults – The job market is wonderful, unemployment rates are low, it’s EASY to get a new job, and you see the world through rose colored glasses. How long ago were you let go from Qbase?
@Amy- my sources say that a bunch of people were asked a few weeks ago to continue without pay- on straight commission. Also- that doesn’t change the fact that tax dollars were handed over to a charlatan- and he illegally forced employees to donate to politicians.
Please don’t defend his bad behavior because you get a paycheck there. It sounds like you have no ethics either- just following orders.
Oh Amy, Amy, Amy. Are you just following orders? Families, jobs. These are weasel words that make a nice smokescreen to cover up for corporate malfeasance, malfeasance involving tax dollars, paid by all families in Ohio that pay taxes. So yes, 80 families are taking from the other couple hundred thousand families who are related to the 600,000 some people in Ohio that are out of work but still pay things like sales taxes, and bus fare, and gas taxes. Yep. That sounds about right. Head. Sand. You.
Ex-employees are the enemy. If I’m critical of Qbase then I am the enemy, therefore I must be an ex-employee. Astounding inference my dear Amy, brava! See also Bunker Mentality.
The funny thing is, I wasn’t even that critical. Qbase is probably doing work that needs to be done, the AF or hospital admin groups probably benefit from getting their databases re-normalized, their queries optimized, or having some statistical models fit to their data so they can make sound inferences and better decisions. My point was, this can be done by many people / companies, Qbase isn’t bringing anything special to the table technology-wise. Whether Qbase exists or not, the work will still need to be done. Come out of your bunker, it’s nice and sunny and the Allies have food!
Speaking of making employees donate to political campaigns, In 2008 not 100% of employees donated to the United Way. Rather certain people in management donated in there name for them. There were a few that refused to donate, no matter how many times they were asked, face to face meetings trying to be persuaded. Lovely, isn’t it?
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