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REDSTONE IN MORTAL COMBAT, SELLS GAME UNIT
Tuesday, December 2 2008
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Hoping to ease his debt load, media mogul Sumner Redstone has sold his 87-percent stake in the money-losing videogame company, Midway Games, for a fire-sale price, the Wall Street Journal said today (Tuesday). Investor Mark Thomas reportedly paid about $100,000 for the stake and agreed to assume $70 million in debt. The sale permits Redstone's holding company, National Amusements, to pay off little of his $1.6 billion in loans but it apparently does allow him to realize a tax loss for 2008 of more than $800 million and to receive a significant tax refund on amounts paid previously, the report said. The Journal, citing credit analysts, observed that even though Midway had a market value of $30 million at the time of the sale, Redstone decided to sell at a huge discount in order to complete the deal by the end of this year. But Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, told the Los Angeles Times, "Redstone is giving Midway away. ... That's crazy." Still, Redstone continues to wrestle with lenders, and some analysts are predicting that he will next sell off some or all of his movie theaters and/or his stake in slot-machine company WMS Industries, rather than put his two favorite holdings, Viacom and CBS on the block. Little is known about the Midway buyer, Thomas, who is said to have used his personal funds in order to complete the transaction quickly. The once-high-flying videogame company, which achieved acclaim, notoriety and success with its "Mortal Kombat" game, has been unable to duplicate its success in recent years. In the last quarter it lost nearly $76 million. The 85-year-old Redstone, meanwhile, has also been caught in a pincers movement, surrounded on one side by lenders and on another by some of those closest to him -- his wife, who is suing for divorce, his daughter who heads his theater chain and is feuding with him, and his son, who is also suing him.
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CBS -- UNWANTED AT ANY PRICE?
Monday, December 1 2008
Even
if
Sumner
Redstone
wanted
to
sell
off
CBS
Inc.
in
order
to
pay
off
National
Amusements'
$1.6-billion
debt
--
something
that
Redstone
has
denied
he
intends
to
do
--
he
would
be
unlikely
to
find
a
buyer,
Crain's
New
York
Business
said
today
(Monday).
It
quoted
analysts
as
saying
that
"nobody
would
want
CBS,
even
at
bargain
prices."
The
analysts
noted
that
even
though
the
network
is
leading
in
the
ratings
race,
it
relies
(more)
MORE FINANCIAL WOES FOR REDSTONE
Thursday, November 27 2008
The
falling
stock
prices
of
CBS
and
Viacom
may
force
Sumner
Redstone,
the
chairman
of
both
companies,
to
sell
part
or
all
of
his
National
Amusements
theater
chain
and
his
stakes
in
the
videogame
company
Midway
Games
and
slot
machine
maker
WMS
Industries,
the
Los
Angeles
Times
reported
today
(Thursday),
citing
people
close
to
the
situation.
The
theater
chain
is
overseen
by
Redstone's
daughter
Shari,
who
has
engaged
in
numerous
public
disputes
with
her
father
(more)
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