Central to [Patrick Byrne]'s analysis of media culpability was the alleged cooperation among traditionally bitter rivals. For example, he argued that in February, MarketWatch's columnist Herb Greenberg stopped writing about Overstock because "the assignment got passed" to Street.com Real Money columnist Jeff Matthews. Matthews, who runs a hedge fund, RAM Partners, would not comment other than to note that the linkage to Greenberg was "incredibly strange."

Matthews, in addition to running a hedge fund, also runs a blog. In it, Matthews criticized Byrne for being excessively concerned about the role of short-sellers, and noted that "Byrne exhibits all the signs of a CEO with something to hide."

A spokesman for Overstock said that Byrne was committed to standing up for the company and "righting wrongs where he sees them." The presentations, the spokesman said, was not part of the long-range public relations strategy of the company. He said that Byrne, to his knowledge, is not currently under any psychiatric care and that he was sober when he gave the presentation.