E-district suspends chief and shares
Shares for web-based interactive game company e-district.net were today suspended after the board discovered accounting irregularities in its financial reports.
E-district’s board of directors has also suspended chief executive Steven Laitman as of Sunday, after discovering figures for registered users, page impressions and revenues were ‘substantially overstated’. According to the company, it was not clear over what period the overstatement occurred, ‘but it could include all of 2000’.
The Financial Times today reported that the company’s auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, are helping the board investigate the matter.
PwC said they could not comment on client affairs.
The company was already in hot water in June, as it reported a turnover of £1m its interim results and a pre-tax loss of £67,646 compared to a profit of £25,106 in the previous year. E-district also reported an increase in administrative, sales, marketing, platform, and development expenses.
In December, the company said it had 3.4 million registered users and in June, it reported 2.1 million users, up from 1.1 million to during the first six months of 1999.
The company floated shares at 195p on the Alternative Investment Market in March. Since then almost £70m has been knocked off the company’s market value.
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