Want a Workout? Try Making Sense of Nautilus Disclosures

Editor's Note: Herb Greenberg's column runs exclusively on RealMoney.com; this is a special free look at his column. For a free trial subscription to RealMoney.com, click here. This article was published June 3 on RealMoney.

Trying to get the straight story (or the story straight!) on Nautilus (NLS Quote)?

As evidenced by inaccuracies in CFO Rod Rice's biography, you can't count on the company's SEC filings for clarity. That's especially true when it comes to disclosures about royalties paid to the inventor of Bowflex, Tessema D. Shifferaw, and, in turn, to Nautilus CEO Brian Cook and former director Roland Wheeler.

Disclosures regarding those royalties contain unexplained inconsistencies and numbers that simply don't add up. And as I discovered after interviewing Rice, don't expect him to help you figure it out, either. ...