A onetime cable TV software maker has built up a 9% stake in Irvine’s Autobytel Inc. and plans to talk with the online auto marketer’s management about its “undervalued” shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Palo Alto-based Liberate Technologies, which today is little more than an over-the-counter ticker symbol, said it’s bought nearly 4 million of Autobytel’s shares in the past month.
Liberate said it could seek to buy more shares and may “formulate plans or proposals that relate to, might result in, or have the purpose or effect of changing or influencing control of” Autobytel.
Autobytel, which links online car shoppers with dealers, has seen restatement of financial results in the past few years, and, more recently, management changes and the prospect of a sale of the company.
In October, Autobytel hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to pursue a sale but dropped the effort earlier this year.
Liberate Technologies once made software for cable companies and was hit by accounting problems in 2002 that led to fraud charges against its executives.
In early 2005, Liberate sold most of its operations for $82 million to a venture of Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.
Liberate’s largest shareholder is Chicago hedge fund manager Coghill Capital Management LLC at 14%. Coghill also owns a 10% stake in Autobytel, making it the company’s largest shareholder.
