NEWS

Tom DeLonge Calls Report on UFO Research Firm's $37 Million Deficit a 'Blatant Lie'

10/15/2018 by Rania Aniftos

 Rebecca Sapp/WireImage
Tom DeLonge speaks onstage at A Conversation With Tom DeLonge at The Grammy Museum on Oct. 13, 2015 in Los Angeles.

Tom DeLonge is setting the record straight on a report published by Ars Technica on Monday (Oct. 15). The article claimed that the Blink-182 frontman's UFO research organization, To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, has accumulated a $37,432,000 deficit according to a mid-year SEC filing. 

DeLonge took to Instagram to quickly shut down what he called a "blatant lie." "APPARENTLY, THIS WRITER CAN’T READ," he wrote. "BTW- TTSA never even raised $37m!!? So how in the hell did we spend it?! Lord. I ask all of you that believe in the @tothestarsacademy mission to go write a complaint on their website RIGHT NOW for trying to hurt an admirable effort to help humanity by using negative attacks and—-> lies."   

He continued with a statement directly to Ars Technica, noting that the article's author didn't reach out to him or the company for comment. "Mr. Berger apparently did not EVEN READ the filing in its entirety, and clearly did not understand the excerpt of the SEC filing he quotes," he wrote in part. "The approximate $37 million stockholders’ deficit is NOT DEBT as he characterized it but is attributable to stock-based compensation expense. IT IS NOT RELATED TO THE OPERATIONAL RESULTS OF THE COMPANY."

Read the entire statement below.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

BLATENT LIE — APPARENTLY, THIS WRITER CAN’T READ. BTW- TTSA never even raised $37m!!? So how in the hell did we spend it?! Lord. I ask all of you that believe in the @tothestarsacademy mission to go write a complaint on their website RIGHT NOW for trying to hurt an admirable effort to help humanity by using negative attacks and—-> lies. OUR LETTER TO THEM: Dear Ars Technica— I am writing you regarding the article posted to Ars Technica this morning titled ‘All the dumb things? Blink 182 front man’s UFO project $37 million in debt’ by Eric Berger. We were surprised Ars Technica would allow Mr. Berger to post such an article without asking either Mr. DeLonge or To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science for comment. This article is highly misleading and grossly mischaracterizes statements in an SEC filing. Had Mr. Berger bothered to reach out to us for comment this could have been prevented. Mr. Berger apparently did not EVEN READ the filing in its entirety, and clearly did not understand the excerpt of the SEC filing he quotes. The approximate $37 million stockholders’ deficit is NOT DEBT as he characterized it but is attributable to stock-based compensation expense. IT IS NOT RELATED TO THE OPERATIONAL RESULTS OF THE COMPANY. The Consolidated Balance Sheets of To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science in the SEC filing quoted by your author clearly shows the approximately $37 million deficit is attributed to Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit). The filing goes on to explain the mechanism for calculating stock-based compensation and details the various grants of stock options by the company. Mr. Berger’s characterizations of this as debt implies that it stems from traditional borrowings. Had Mr. Berger bothered to email or call us we could have directed him to these portions of the SEC filing and walked him through it. For Mr. Berger to make the conclusions he did on incomplete research and his own interpretations without contacting Mr. DeLonge or the company is inexcusable. We request that you print this letter in full within the article as our statement.

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