Asicminer had its IPO in 2012 at 0.1 BTC/share, seeking initial cash to develop ASICs for bitcoin mining. They were among the first few companies to market with ASICs and were able to provide investors with a profitable dividend for a while based on this first generation product. Shares reached highs of 4.5 BTC each. However, the Asicminer team was unable to translate this initial success into a lasting business... their 2nd generation of chips was a failure (cancelled), and the 3rd generation of chips were delivered behind schedule and under spec, leading to losses. In the wake of the gen 3 failure, friedcat (the presumed CEO) stopped communicating. It is now presumed that those who had access to Asicminer money have run with whatever remained, although this has yet to be conclusively proven.