Martha's Stock Drops 105M/ Huge one-day loss as trade is probed

New York Daily News ^ | 6/25/02 | TIMOTHY J. BURGER, NANCY DILLON and ROBERT INGRASSIA

[Caipirabob]

She tried to save 250K and lost 100 Million. Eeeep! If I was an investor I'd be after her with a pitchfork...

[glorgau]

Martha will soon be giving thoughtful tips on how to decorate your jail cell. Its easy to do with item scrounged from the prison yard. :-)

[grania]

Stewart claims she had a standing order with the broker to sell ImClone stock when it fell below $60 per share.

You wrote that "if you were an investor you'd be after her with a pitchfork". What about the small investors in her company?...I imagine that a good percentage of the types that like making floral displays out of soda bottle caps (I made that up) don't follow the stock market, just put the money there because they like Martha?

Meanwhile, I see a scenerio here where she didn't do anything really wrong. Maybe she used "standing order" loosely, like to mean, "call me if the stock goes below 60, I might want to sell". Broker calls, she sells on his advice, played a little loose with the rules, but, hey, even little me can trade stock on the phone.

Don't get me wrong...the world would be a better place for people like me if cutesy home decorating were to become a prison activity, but on the long list of criminal activities going on, this just isn't very high on the list, if on it at all. Maybe she should just donate the Imclone proceeds to Home Design scholarships or something.

[Caipirabob]

Shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia plummeted more than 20% to close at $12.55, down $3.42 per share, in the heaviest trading since the company went public in October 1999.

I'd be "peeved" [ ; )] If I was an investor in her company! Like I said, I'd be after her with a pitchfork, although I'd have decorated it with rustic blue ribbons and a doiley for the occasion. Martha was the figurehead for a corporation which no doubt had thousands of small investors who respected her image.

Whether or not she did anything intentionally wrong, she had the obligation to consider any action with her investors in mind. She was also a broker for a number of years so she knows how it works. Unfortunately, someone at that "level" with that knowledgebase should know better, which makes it all the more likely she knew exactly what she was doing.

Altogether pretty stupid on her part. Now where's that doiley?!?

[grania]

Altogether pretty stupid on her part. Now where's that doiley?!?

That it was. Ahhh, if stupid acts were a crime, most all of us would spend some time in jail.

[kcordell]

Ahhh, if stupid acts were a crime, most all of us would spend some time in jail.

Don't you just love it when the government goes after someone for something our elected officials have been doing for decades?

[mombonn]

Maybe she used "standing order" loosely, like to mean, "call me if the stock goes below 60, I might want to sell".

She used to be a broker - she knows how business is done. Either she gave the broker a stop-loss order, or she didn't. This drivel she's been handing out doesn't pass the sniff test.

[smiley]

Thank you for setting the record straight. Yes, she was a business woman from way back and she knows how to make a fast buck. No mistaking that Martha knew exactly what was at stake...now let her eat cake.

[grania]

Don't you just love it when the government goes after someone for something our elected officials have been doing for decades?

Wouldn't it be ironic if Ms. Stewart got the opportunity to beautify prison interiors and the whole Enron crowd remained free?