A $2 company that was $176… 15 years ago (ticker: MARK)

From the 11ish archive: written in May 2020. Prices, numbers and views are from then and are not investment advice today.

Ok I know it looks like I’m falling into clickbait territory at this point, but I was introduced to this little Las Vegas company last week by one of my cousins. I took a look at its bio and financials and it sounded so ridiculous I thought it’d make an interesting case study and MAYBE… just MAYBE an interesting investment.

Alright, let’s get started!

What is Remark Holdings

So there’s a company called Remark Holdings. It’s a company that says it focuses on “Travel & Entertainment, and Technology & Data Intelligence.” Which is to say, they do whatever the fajita they want. Headquartered in Las Vegas. It owns vegas.com, bikini.com, banks.com which is curiously headquartered in SF, FileLater.com headquartered in Moraga, CA, apparently it’s involved with the show Dr. Oz, and a bunch of other LLCs.

Just at first glance, I know it’s run by my people because its AI technology is amusingly called KANKAN which means “take a look” in Chinese. They also have equally amusing LLC names stationed in Beijing.

Looking at their financials, they’ve been around since the 2000’s, when the stock was literally worth 176 dollars, compared to what it is now. According to yahoo finance, they’ve been consistently growing their 8 digit revenue year over year with a consistently negative net income in the 4 to 6 million zone. You add this financial factoid to that list of random domain names and LLCs, it smells curiously like some rich Chinese guy bought the company in the early 2000’s and has been using it as a tax deduction and/or a pet project.

One word… Fascinating

The MOST interesting and even more random tidbit is that somebody leaked a letter that the Wynn casino in Vegas is in the process of potentially partnering with Remark for scanning people coming into their casino with thermal imaging. So basically figuring out if you have a fever or not. (crickets)

Let me say this much, this is the most interesting 30 minutes of research I’ve done in a long while. As a business, I see zero original ideas and a ton of revenue. Which either means they’re really good at cashing in on connections and domain names or they’re doing something sketchy that I’d rather not get myself in trouble speculating in. I’m not even saying this company is a worthless investment opportunity. On the contrary, you’ve probably seen pharma stocks blowing up just because they announced a random update about having a remote semblance of progress in creating a COVID vaccine. I think this may present itself as an opportunity like that.

So if 1% of your bankroll is about a thousand bucks, I’d tell you to bet a thousand bucks on this but absolutely no more. There’s a chance you can turn your pair of 2s into 4 of a kind. And being that this is a 2 dollar stock, if it somehow gains traction by mass hysteria, you might bank 10x what you put in. But betting more than 1% on that opportunity when you know there are better hands out there to be played is insane.

Also, I would not hold this stock for more than a month. You’re increasing your risk exponentially every single day, as COVID plays itself out and real vaccines come.

All in All

This is the type of company where it has way better odds than buying a lottery ticket but way worse odds than … (crickets) … a real investment. So as long as this isn’t a money laundering front and they don’t get delisted by NASDAQ, you’ve got as much chance striking it rich as playing the crypto game.

Anyway, I hope you found this entertaining. Leave a comment if you have any questions or concerns, and if you’re looking for more content like this, please subscribe. It’ll really help me create more of it.

Disclosure: As of October 3, 2026, the author does not hold MARK. No payment was received for this post. This is commentary from May 2020, not investment advice.