Barry Charles Honig

Barry Honig is an American businessman who specializes in corporate finance and structuring.

Early Career
Barry Charles Honig (born 1971) received his undergraduate degree in Economics from George Washington University. Originally a Golden Gloves boxer, Honig left the boxing industry to begin working at Ramius Capital in 1998 trading in distressed equities, arbitrage, long/short and other specialized trading strategies. In 2001, he left Ramius Capital to co-found Marlin Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment company. Since 2003, while continuing with Marlin Capital, Honig began serving as a consultant to many emerging companies from startups to IPOs/APOs. In 2004, he founded Boca-Raton based GRC Consultants Inc., where he serves as President of the company. He currently resides in Miami, FL, with his wife Renee Honig.

InterCLICK
Since its foundation in June 2007, Barry Honig served as director of New York-based InterCLICK (NASDAQ:ICLK), an audience intelligence and targeting company that uses data to determine marketing strategies. The company initially produced revenues of $3 million. Along with the help of co-chairman Michael Brauser, Honig has been essential in the growth of the company’s annual revenues to over $125 million. InterCLICK eventually traded as a $150 million NASDAQ company. Honig sold over a million shares of InterCLICK for nearly $4.1 million in proceeds in August 2010. Soon thereafter, on November 1, 2011, Yahoo! acquired InterCLICK outright in a deal valued at roughly $270 million.

Empire Sports & Entertainment Holdings Company
Since August 2007, Barry has served as Chairman of Empire Sports & Entertainment (OTCBB:EXCX), a promoter of entertainment and sports events. In June 2011, Barry Honig announced the company would be changing its name to Sagebrush Gold Ltd. (OTCBB:SAGE), expanding its business model to include resource exploration and production, specifically gold exploration. Honig had the following to say regarding the transition, "We are very excited to pursue and invest in new opportunities in the mining and exploration industry. We created this new subsidiary to diversify our business model as we see tremendous upside in the gold industry right now and for the foreseeable future. We believe that this division will ultimately have a very positive effect on the company and our stakeholders. Additionally, we will continue to engage in the sports and entertainment industry through The Empire Sports and Entertainment, which will now be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company." In March 2012, the company again changed its name to Pershing Gold Corporation (OTCBB:PGLC), reflecting its focus on Pershing County, NV where its main property is located. The company simultaneously announced that it would acquire 9,700 acres of additional mining claims in the county. Honig has served as co-chairman of the company since September 2010.

In January 2011, former two-time winning heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, unjust enrichment and breach of contract against Gregory D. Cohen, Shelly Finkel and Barry Honig. Briggs accuses the three partners and owners of Empire Sports & Entertainment of promising him $750,000 to fight world champion Vitali Klitschko, but only paying him $25,000 before terminating him from Empire’s roster. The case has not yet gone to court.

Notable Investments
Barry Honig invests in many small and large businesses, several of which he has served or continues to serve on the board for.

In April 2011, Honig reported an individual 5.9 percent stake in Dara BioSciences Inc. (NASDAQ:DARA), following the 8.3 percent stake his firm GRQ Consultants took in November 2010.

In September 2011, Honig disclosed in an SEC filing that his investment firm Marlin Capital owned 248,771 shares, or 5.5 percent, of the stock of BroadVision (NASDAQ:BVSN). His firm bought shares at $8.50 per share, and within six months the stock traded above $56 per share.

In December 2011, Honig owned over six million shares of ChromaDex (OTCBB:CDXC), a natural products company operating in the dietary supplement, food & beverage, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries, prior to a large rally in the shares.

Current Positions
Barry Honig currently maintains the following positions: Co-Chairman at ChromaDex, Director at Pershing Gold, Co-Chairman at InterCLICK, and President at GRQ Consultants. Honig serves on the Board of Directors at ChromaDex, Pershing Gold, Customer Acquisition Network (OTCBB:CACN), and Empire Sports & Entertainment.