Posted on 09/19/2004 9:59:45 AM PDT by Steven W.
At the height of Rathergate, it appears Sumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of Viacom Corporation, has issued his first verdict on the collapse of credibility for its CBS News operation and 60 Minutes programming. In disclosure mandated by the SEC, "STATEMENT OF CHANGES OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES", Redstone reveals his transaction promptly followed the disasterous & defiant appearance by Dan Rather on last Monday evening's edition of the CBS Evening News. In official filing, and with Viacom currently selling near 5 year lows, records reveal Redstone sold 341,500 shares of Viacom stock options for an otherwise undisclosed 401K account on Tuesday of last week, September 14, 2004. Overall, with shares still selling for $11,952,500 at only $35 a share, his gross profit from the transaction appears to have yielded around $6,744,625 in cash.
I don't think this qualifies for insider trading since everyone knows the situation at CBS; and if I had stock in it I would sell also.- Tom
He can't use proceeds in a 401K account to pay taxes.
Most of the shareholders are probably mutual fund owners who aren't aware that they are shareholders. Viacom stock will be very cheap soon, and I suspect that the rest of the alphabet soup media will take a small hit as well.
See the replied-to post.
Your comment makes me think even more that I'm accurate on this one, that there's truly nothing to see here. This sort of thing is done all the time to fund estimated tax payments.
Great job!
Last week someone was wondering if any of the top dogs at ViaCom dumped the stock before it became a loss leader.
Maybe Redstone can be Martha's cell mate in jail.
This is what we've been waiting for. If Drudge publicizes this on his site/show tonight, the stock should start to sell-off tomorrow (whether or not Redstone's sale was based on the scandal). Once the stock hits a new 52-week low, Heyward should quickly lose his decision-making power on how to handle the scandal, and Rather might very well be forced to resign.
"Sell, Beekman, SELL"!!!
This is the first time he's sold stock dating back to 2002, at least.
If that's the case, then this really isn't a big deal. I guess what seems like a boatload of wealth to me might be a drop in the bucket for the elites of the MSM.
Okay you Pajama Wearing Graphic Artists have a challenge:
"The image of Redstone in a dress and bonnet trying to scramble onto the lifeboat ahead of the "little people" would be funny if it weren't pathetic.
My wife the tax CPA and stock option expert, thinks the writer doesn't have a clue, and that you can't have stock options inside a 401K.
What possibly might be insider trading is if Redstone knows that there were more lies and a deeper involvement, and nothing was said.
Earth to CBS's affiliates....
Well yes and no. They have to file their intention to sell shares during a certain time period. They are not required to sell the shares at that time. There also are time periods when they cannot sell shares.
They can also file a notice that states that when the stock hits X I will sell Y number of shares.
There are several ways an insider can sell shares.
Won't the shareholders for certain fire Redstone tomorrow?
What is the point of being an owner of a business when all the shareholders have to sit there and watch their company collapse even though they know exactly what needs to be done to correct the problem?
"Turn those machines back on!!!!!!!!!!!"
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