Redstone Sells Majority Stake in Midway Games

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 1, 2008 - 10:31am.

New York - Sumner Redstone, whose National Amusements holding company controls Viacom (NYSE: VIA), CBS, Paramount Pictures and other media assets, is expected to announce on Monday that he will sell its 87% majority stake in Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) to investor Mark Thomas, The Wall Street Journal reported. National Amusements will receive just $100,000 in cash for the struggling game publisher, while Thomas will also assume $70 million in secured and unsecured debt.

The Journal reported that Redstone will see an $800 million loss on the deal, but the transaction will provide a tax benefit as National Amusements restructures its $1.6 billion of debt.

Chicago-based Midway, which posted a $70 million loss for the first half of 2008, announced layoffs in August, and canceled some of its titles in October.

Last month, Sumner's daughter Shari Redstone resigned as chairman of Midway, shortly before the company received a delisting warning from the NYSE.

 

Related Links:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122810340075068473.html

http://www.nationalamusements.com

http://www.midway.com

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