Infinium changes name as former CEO launches lawsuit

Infinium Labs, the company behind the once much hyped but since repeatedly delayed Phantom games-on-demand console, is to undergo a name change to coincide with the issue of additional shares.

News of the change came in an SEC filing, which stated that the board of directors believes it will "better reflect the long term growth strategy of the company."

The filing also revealed that the board has unanimously approved a move to increase the number of authorised shares of common stock from 600 million to 1.2 billion. This, the board believes, will offer "greater flexibility with respect to the Company's capital structure for such purposes as additional equity financing, and stock based acquisitions." Shareholders will be asked to approve the deal at a meeting scheduled for July 13th.

The report confirmed the departure of CEO Kevin Bachus, who replaced Tim Roberts last August following allegations by the SEC. Bachus, who now directs worldwide operations for Nival, is suing Infinium for "unpaid wages and accrued and unpaid personal time off totaling $50,997." The company "plans to defend itself vigorously in this matter."

A separate financial report released last week shows a working capital deficit for the year ended March 31st of USD 11.52 million, with accumulated losses since inception at USD 69.3 million. Loss from operations for the quarter was USD 2.75m, while loss from operations for the year ended December 31st 2005 was USD 29.8 million. The filing states that "In their report on our audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2005, our independent auditors expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern."

There's still no sign of Infinium's Phantom console, which was first unveiled in January 2003. It was due to launch in November of the same year but that was the first of many missed release dates - and there's been no sign of the console at E3 in recent years.

Earlier this year Infinium unveiled the Phantom Lapboard, a wireless keyboard and mouse peripheral for the PC. It was due to launch in "mid 2006" but there has been no further clarification of an exact release date.