I also attended the AGM, for the duration, yesterday.
I strangely find myself emotionally detached from proceedings, and perhaps worthy of some reflection of what was said & transpired.
Basically, I witnessed a US board and executive management team struggling to communicate with an Australian shareholder base. There was a clear cultural divide. The forthright manner, and at times brash, manner of Australian shareholders visibly threw Antonio & Sean (in Australia, respect is earnt, not given). In Antonio, the fight or flight response was to fight. Make of that what you will. No doubt it was not Antonio's finest hour.
However, my take-out is that any redomicile is on the back-burner for a while. Any move to de-list would require 75% vote via a special resolution, there is no chance that is getting up when they can't get 50% for the renumeration package. This was made clear early in the AGM, and IMO in Antonio's attempt to backtrack on the re-domicile subject tripped himself up and looked rather silly. However, when all is said in done, I reckon no move to the US ( unless dual listing ) in the immediate future.
On the journey over the last couple of years, a difficult pill to swallow. Essentially, the tech wasn't "commercial ready" , and the BrainChip team were unable to complete any enduring commercial deals. The licensing deals that were done seemed to be adhoc in nature, without integration between the companies involved (essentially selling a shelf item, with no idea what happens when it leaves the store). As a result of the commercial failure, the last 2 years have been a "pivot", or what I would describe as a desperate push to build & correct the deficiences in the product offer to make it "commercial ready" before the whole house of cards caves in. Communication has been lacking, perhaps partly because internally they knew they had to get their "shit" together before any major PR campaigns ( or else risk exposure for what was lacking, and completely decimate shareholder value ). All a bit depressing, and just my view.
However, the good news, very good news in fact, is that it would seem that we are now "commercial ready". The technical position seems very strong. The technology path for the next few years, strong. The real proof however, is in the companies that are finally putting pen to paper and doing deals with BrainChip ( in an integrated partnership, with full sight on progress )- the ultimate proof that BrainChip is now " commercial ready". This list includes RTX, Onsor, Chelpis, Frontgrade and Information System Labs.
The discussions around how we renumerate & reward US executives and employees, in a highly competitive environment, in a pre-revenue listed entity, against a backdrop of an ASX listing with associated benchmarks ( RSU's vs Options is a great example ), will continue to generate much angst. I can see no way of resolving this tension until such time as BrainChip has delivered success ( as measured by revenue, not "bookings" ), and will need to be managed as well as is possible.
Believe it or not, after this ramble, I actually think Brainchip is in the best position it has been in "ever", and remove the emotion, because now would be exactly the wrong time to sell, and probably what many institutional investors are depending on.
Morning Quiltman,
That was an excellent appraisal, I agree.
I notice that no one appears to have made comment on the excellent presentation that Dr. Johnathan, I thought he was great, he spoke
clearly, is an excellent asset to our engineering team and explained our future runway, finishing with the comment that Akida 3 will see us clear for the next decade (or words to that effect) ...a very precise, easy to follow presentation.
Noting that he has made the commitment to Sean that Akida 3 will be ready during the first quarter of 2026, as they are further down the
design phase than they had originally anticipated, so he has given a clear timeline, which I like.
To say or think that the staff have been cruising is not only very disrespectful but totally false, the entire team at Brainchip have been
digging in and working hard.
For Steve to gain entry to the Board, either someone had to step down or the Board? decided to increase the number to 7, he is well
qualified in my opinion, but the timing wasn't/isn't quite right, regarding the shareholder targeting Peter at the end was a disgrace, knowing Peter he would have been rather embarrassed, some of the comments I have read on this forum regarding this personal attack on our Founder were also disgusting!
Peter was clearly happy to chat with the shareholder privately, which is his right, rather than having his personal comments recorded forever
on the record, Peter has the highest integrity, loves this company, showed great respect in standing up and backing his CEO.
I'll always defend him, such a pity there aren't more humans on this planet with his heart, mind and attitude towards his fellow man.
God bless you Peter
