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  "documentTitle": "Focus Media Holding Ltd. (FMCN)",
  "authorId": "51_Muddy_Waters",
  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2011-11-21 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "The slide uses a table to contrast pre- and post-acquisition roles to highlight the change in control, and text to argue that FMCN's financial disclosures regarding Jingzhun are contradictory.",
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      "text": "We spoke with multiple companies in this group, and each confirmed that FMCN never owned or controlled them.",
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      "text": "FMCN claims that the acquisition was returned to Ying Ping for zero consideration, so the loss on disposal would have been a write-down to zero. It is clear that Ying Ping is claiming that he was never paid the acquisition consideration. FMCN ultimately settled the arbitration by paying $5.5 million in March 2010, which validates Mr. Ying's claim",
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      "text": "pledges. One example of FMCN acquiring a VIE in this manner is its acquisition of Beijing Yitong Wireless Information Technology Co., Ltd (\"Yitong\"). Yitong is one of the two to four companies in the mobile handset division that FMCN did actually acquire. When FMCN acquired Yitong, it made the below changes:",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "Disclosures in the 2008 and 2009 20-Fs about the acquisition and disposal date of the largest of the phantom acquisitions, Shenzhen Jingzhun, are materially different from one another and are mutually exclusive. FMCN slyly attempted to rewrite history in order to disguise inconsistencies in its story about the purported loss on disposal of (never acquired) Jingzhun.",
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      "text": "Ying Ping, the primary registered capital holder of the largest of phantom mobile acquisition companies, initiated an arbitration proceeding against FMCN on February 11, 2009. According to FMCN's disclosure in the 2008 20-F, Mr. Ying was seeking $15.6 million in unpaid consideration for his registered capital in February 2009. This amount is roughly equal to the loss on disposal FMCN recorded on April 30, 2008. However, if FMCN had not actually paid Ying Ping for his firm (which is what he claimed and what the judgment appears to prove true), then FMCN would have had nothing to impair.",
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      "text": "Both disclosures were made in the Legal Proceedings section and referred to an arbitration claim that the would-be selling shareholder of Jingzhun brought against FMCN for $15.6 million purportedly for unpaid acquisition consideration. (As shown in the table supra, Mr. Ying Ping's ownership remained constant at the time FMCN claimed to acquire Jingzhun)",
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      "text": "We spoke with multiple companies in this group, and each confirmed that FMCN never owned or controlled them. There were indications that FMCN may have been a client of these companies.",
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      "text": "86 We were able to confirm that FMCN acquired two mobile handset companies, and we were unable to obtain complete SAIC files on the other two companies. 87 2008 20-F, p. 98 & 2009 20-F, p. 99",
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      "text": "Yitong Acquisition table showing changes in Shareholder, Legal Representative, Executive Director, Supervisor, and Manager roles before and after acquisition.",
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