 By early 2010, Comverse Technology was planning to finally release an annual report with full financial statements and return to being fully listed on Nasdaq, but still was anticipating more layoffs. One piece of positive news in July 2010 was an $ 80 million investment by well-known entrepreneur George Soros. However, the promised financial reports did not come, and an August 2010 public announcement that the company was short on cash and planning more layoffs and was subject to its stock being completely delisted caused a precipitous drop in the stock's price, with the market valuation of the company falling below $ 1 billion. CEO Dahan said simply, "These are challenging times." By August 2010, analysts were stating that Comverse Technology might have to break up by selling off its subsidiaries and spin off Comverse's own business units. Running low on cash, Comverse Technology engaged Goldman Sachs to explore such possibilities, with several large, well-known technology companies potentially interested in Comverse and some private equity firms possibly interested in Verint. The company had some 4,000 employees, and continued having about half of them employed in Israel and most of the rest in the US and France. The continuing financial reporting problems had cost the company some $ 500 million in accountants'fees and related costs since 2006 and was the largest drain on its cash position. The fact that senior management awarded itself bonuses in a time of various rounds of layoffs left employees feeling outraged. Comverse's restructuring also affected its 2006-acquired NetCentrex business unit in France, with layoffs or a shutdown possible. In October 2010, Comverse Technology agreed to sell its two-thirds ownership of its Ulticom subsidiary to a U.S. private equity firm for $ 90 million; the deal closed in December 2010. The company also sold part of its holdings in Verint, netting $ 80 million, and sold for $ 27 million land in the hi-tech area of Ra 'anana, north of Tel Aviv, where it had been planning to build a new headquarters.
