Internet company apparently shuts down -
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Published on: 5/16/2001
Last Visited: 6/14/2001
My understanding is they're either out ( of business ) or going out at this point , Richard Pierce , the president of MES , said Tuesday.
A receptionist who answered at the phone number listed for the company's Portland offices said the company was no longer in the building and left no forwarding number or address.The company also shut down its voice mail , she said.
Pierce said MES was a minority stockholder in Intelligent Learning and had little to do with its operation.
He said he was not sure why it shut down , but suspected it was not profitable.
About a dozen employees were trying to run the company since January when Richard Pushard , the chief executive officer , left , Pierce said.
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So-called distance learning companies have prospered throughout the nation in the past year , even as the economy has softened and the stock market has declined from historic highs , Pierce said.
The company was spun off from a loan program that was itself mired in controversy for months.Banks and others charged that MES had exclusive access to tax-exempt bonds for student loans.State officials joined in the criticism after discovering that money from the student-loan business was used for profit-making ventures.
Pierce defended the program and the way it was run.Some backers charged the criticism was partisan because Pierce was active in Republican politics , having once run for governor.
A Superior Court judge last December approved a settlement between the state and MELMAC , allowing the organization to sell the $500 million loan portfolio to NELNet , a Nebraska buyer , for $30 million.
The state had sued to block the sale.
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