2004-3-11
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics
Report.
Last Friday, a jury in New York found that businesswoman Martha
Stewart lied and tried to interfere with a federal investigation.
She is in the business of advice and products for home design. But
the case did not involve Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She built
that company and headed it until the charges last June.
The case involves her sale of shares of a biotechnology company,
ImClone Systems. In December of two-thousand-one, Martha Stewart
sold her shares for two-hundred-twenty-eight-thousand dollars. The
next day, some bad news about ImClone caused the share price to
drop. Government lawyers charged that she had illegally used inside
information from a friend, the man who started ImClone. She denied
any wrongdoing.
At the end of February, the judge cancelled a charge of insider
trading. But the jury found her guilty of all four other charges.
Her stock trader was found guilty of similar charges and also lying
to the court.
Her lawyers have been preparing their appeal. Sentencing is set
for June and could result in prison. Martha Stewart is one of a
number of business leaders accused recently of crimes.
But last week another business leader faced a different kind of
judgment. This came at a shareholders meeting of the Walt Disney
Company. Investors had to vote yes or no to re-elect Michael Eisner
as chairman and chief executive officer. Forty-three percent voted
no.
The Disney board of directors answered within hours. It kept
Mister Eisner as chief executive. But it made board member George
Mitchell acting chairman. Mister Mitchell is a former Senate
majority leader and diplomat.
Many shareholders, including former directors Roy Disney and
Stanley Gold, were not satisfied. They say Mister Eisner has done a
poor job. He has led the company for twenty years. Critics also say
Mister Mitchell is too much of his friend.
The Disney board also again rejected an offer by the cable
television company Comcast to buy Disney. Last month, Comcast
offered more than sixty-thousand-million dollars in stock and
acceptance of debt. Since then, Disney shares have gone up; Comcast
shares have gone down. Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said
this week that Disney was not a "must-have" for his company.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario
Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.