you, of course, will not lose money, gip. But ZIP has been a RB pick for a very long time, almost since the IPO. The stock has been priced under $12 for a relatively short time. My point is that a buyout at $12-anything is not going to be profitable for a whole lot of people, many (probably most)of whom are retail investors and many of whom depend upon the advice of the Fool...and don't think I'm especially critical of MF or the RB service; both have track records that speak for themselves. This one just didn't work out.

I do think that there are unaccounted for dynamics, particularly when it comes to IPOs and especially when it comes to reading headlines. Most of us were constantly fooled by headlines when we started on this journey.

The reality is that if you bought ZIP anytime between May and August, chances are good that this "payday" is very small. Between October 1-ish and now, you may have done well. So 5 months out of 19 that ZIP was public could have gotten you a profit. Heaven forbid you'd bought and held for longer than 8 months.

-Randy