Posted by Enough2BuyaPC on June 23, 2009 at 07:19:05:
iDGi: Paul Allen's odd Charter stock sale
Jeff Richgels
June 22, 2009
Charter Communications chairman and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold about 28.5 million shares of Charter stock -- essentially all of his Class A common stock holdings -- for less than $1,000, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, Multichannel.com reported.
According to the filing, Allen, who has reportedly invested $7 billion of his own money in the Madison area's cable provider since 1998, sold the shares in several private transactions for $0.000035 each. At that price, Allen's 28,467,421 shares reaped a total of $996.36.
The stock, which had been delisted on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system (NASDAQ) shortly after Charter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 27, has been trading on the over-the-counter market, also known as the "pink sheets." The stock was trading at about 3 cents per share in Friday morning trading, Multichannel.com reported.
Just why Allen chose to sell what are essentially worthless shares - and who would buy them - is a mystery, with even analysts being puzzled.