hitting 12 today and still going upCORRECTED - Redstone increases stake in Midway - filing
Monday June 7, 7:03 pm ET
In LOS ANGELES story headlined "Redstone increases stake in Midway - filing," in paragraph 8 delete sentence beginning "He said the sales were necessitated ..." (Deletes incorrect reference to reason for sale)
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A corrected version follows.
LOS ANGELES, June 7 (Reuters) - Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIAb - News) Chairman Sumner Redstone has agreed to buy a further $14 million worth of shares in Midway Games Inc.(NYSE:MWY - News) from departing Midway Chairman Neil Nicastro, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
The purchase raises his stake in the video game developer to about 74 percent. Redstone, who is also Viacom's chief executive, had already increased his stake to 71 percent of Chicago-based Midway, including shares held by his National Amusements Inc.
That includes 956,500 shares purchased in the market on Wednesday and Thursday last week at between $10.79 and $11.50, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition, Redstone agreed on June 3 to buy 1.25 million common shares at $11.33 per share in a separate transaction with Nicastro. Redstone will purchase those shares in lots of 100,000 starting on Monday for 12 successive business days, and the remainder on the 13th day, the filing said.
Nicastro announced on Friday that he would resign from the Midway board immediately after the June 10 annual meeting.
Redstone has taken an increasingly active role in governance issues relating to the company best known for its "Mortal Kombat" franchise since he took a majority stake, analysts said last week.
Redstone said Midway would announce Nicastro's successor shortly after the annual meeting.
Nicastro, chief executive since May 2003, has actively sold shares recently. In May he sold more than 800,000 Midway shares, or about 1.2 percent of the outstanding common, for about $7.5 million.
Midway stock was up 39 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $12 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
[This message has been edited by keithsan (edited June 07, 2004).]