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Street Name

It's time to let you in on a dirty little secret: You may not own the stock you own. That's right, if you invest with a brokerage firm, the shares you bought are almost certainly not held in your name. Technically, they're held in the name of the Wall Street firm you do business with, hence the term "street name."

No, you haven't been robbed. Ultimately, the decision to hold shares on the books under a different name doesn't affect the economic ramifications for you. You¿re listed as the "beneficial owner," even though the firm is the official owner of the shares. But, you are giving up some rights, and investors concerned about good corporate governance might want to get that stock back in their own names.

Here's the problem: If your stock is technically owned by, say, Merrill Lynch, then Merrill Lynch gets to do things with it that might work against your wishes. Take short selling. Investors who want to sell shares short need to first borrow those shares. The lenders are often the big Wall Street firms that are handing out Street-name shares. So, if you feel that a company you own is a victim of aggressive short selling, chances are your own shares are being used to fuel the shorting.

Also, your brokerage firm can cast ballots on some corporate matters affecting a company without getting your input. Technically, this can only happen in votes considered ¿routine¿ by securities regulators. But, there's a big catch: some big events, like board elections, are considered "routine" under law.

The good news is that you can easily fix the Street name problem: Just request that your brokerage firm makes you the listed owner of the shares. If they refuse, find a new firm.

Home / Markets / Industries / Technology

Digital River to Participate at Casual Connect Seattle 2008

 
Comtex
 

MINNEAPOLIS, Jul 22, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) ----Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV), a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, CustomCD will exhibit at and sponsor Casual Connect Seattle 2008. The conference is being held July 23-25, 2008, at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Wash.

During the conference, CustomCD will highlight its on-demand CD and DVD fulfillment solutions for the casual games industry. The company is a silver level sponsor of Casual Connect Seattle.

Casual Games Association events bring together game developers, game publishers and game portals to further the casual games industry with networking and learning. For more information, visit http://seattle.casualconnect.org/.

About Digital River, Inc.

Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, builds and manages online businesses for software publishers, consumer technology manufacturers, distributors, online retailers and affiliates. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company's comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud prevention, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-lingual customer service, advanced reporting and strategic marketing services.

Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices in major U.S. cities as well as Cologne, Germany; London, England; Shannon, Ireland; Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Stockholm, Sweden; Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; and Shanghai, China. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Digital River, Inc.

Digital River, Inc. Media Contact: Heather Morris, 952-253-8828 Public Relations Specialist publicrelations@digitalriver.com
   or Investor Relations Contact: Ed Merritt, 952-540-3362 Group Vice President, Investor Relations investorrelations@digitalriver.com
   
Copyright Business Wire 2008
 

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