|
|
Daily News
|
|
Michael Eisner Invests
Disney chair/CEO invests $10 million of his own funds in company stock.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
By Spencer Garvey
|
|
Disney Co. chairman and CEO Michael Eisner just put his money where his mouse is by investing $10 million of his own funds in Disney stock. If Eisner's role at the helm of the company was in question, it isn't any more. The next day Disney's stock shot up 4.5%, when investors were still unaware of Eisner's transaction, in media company gains across the board.Eisner made a cool $800,000 off 725,700 shares he bought at slightly less than $14 per share. But his goal was not to make a killing, but rather to demonstrate his faith in the company's underlying value and a belief that the stock, which recently hit an eight-year low, was drastically undervalued. Disney released a statement saying the stock purchase showed Eisner's "personal confidence in the company's direction and prospects for growth over the long term."To be specific about the transaction, Eisner's recent purchase brings his Disney holdings to 13.9 million and were acquired through 21 open-market transactions ranging in price from $13.55-$14.49 per share. The stock was bought in blocks of as little as 700 shares and as many as 230,000, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Even with this major purchase, Eisner is only the third-largest individual investor in Disney, behind vice chairman of the board Roy Disney, who had 17.5 million shares as of the last proxy statement, and the Bass family of Texas, who sold off a large portion of their stock last year, but still maintain substantial amounts.
|
|
|
|
|
 Email
|
 Print
|
|
|
|
|
|