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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Exposed: Saddam's Favorite Magazines
Aired February 28, 2003 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Saddam Hussein, cover boy? Word this morning that the Iraqi president might own a stake in your favorite magazine.
With that, and a market preview first, Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Yesterday, we had what is known as an NLR, a nice little rally.
ZAHN: Yes, and...
SERWER: An NLR. Up 78 points on the Dow. Everything kind of came up; that was nice. But I'll tell you something...
ZAHN: You've got a sliding scale for rallies.
SERWER: Yes, I do. I'm easy.
ZAHN: Now, is anything over 50 points included as a rally?
SERWER: Yes, oh, thats big.
ZAHN: OK, I'm with you.
SERWER: Anyway, February making us shiver here. We could be down for the third month in a row. The Dow would have to go up 170 points today for us to be up for the month. I would not necessarily count on it. The futures are down.
Let's talk about Saddam Hussein, though, shall we?
ZAHN: This is the weirdest story.
SERWER: This is really amazing. Saddam, as it turns out, owns a stake in a company that owns a lot of very popular American magazines. There he is, magazine mogul, Saddam Hussein. He owns a 2 percent stake in a French company that owns magazines, such as "Elle," "Premier"...
ZAHN: Do you suppose he's ever seen "Elle and "Road & Track?"
SERWER: "Elle," he reads it faithfully. "Road & Track" is a favorite. "Car & Driver," "Road & Track." "Women's Day." I mean, this is amazing. He owns a 2 percent stake in the French company, Hachette Filipacchi, which is owned by this French conglomerate, Lagardere -- excuse my pronunciation here, please.
ZAHN: Oui, oui.
SERWER: $90 million in this company. It's a little bit less than a 2 percent stake. He's owned this for a long time, as you can see there. It was frozen in 1991. A lot of people assumed it was sold off over the past decade, ne no (ph). He still owns this piece. You know...
ZAHN: So, would it be worth even more than that?
SERWER: I would assume it would be, yes, because -- although I've got to tell you, the stock has gone down. It's performed very poorly over the past three years. It's lost 60 percent of its value. Yea!
ZAHN: Let me ask you this. Are any board members outraged that he continues to hold a stake?
SERWER: Well...
ZAHN: Whether these, you know, funds are frozen or not?
SERWER: I don't know about that, but I do know that there was some damage control done when they first found out Saddam owned this. Advertisers were called up, tried to mollify, and if people are concerned about french fries and boycotting French wine, how about a company that is part owned by Saddam Hussein? I mean, advertisers have got to wonder about that, I would think.
ZAHN: You've just got to wonder what Saddam Hussein's thinking might be today if he bothered to pick up a copy of "Women's Day."
SERWER: Or "Road & Track." I mean, I don't know if he likes the GTO versus the Barracuda, you know, some classic muscle cars. I don't know if he's into that.
ZAHN: Well, that is one bizarre story.
SERWER: It is bizarre, isn't it?
ZAHN: Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
SERWER: OK.
ZAHN: See you later, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Magazines>
Aired February 28, 2003 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Saddam Hussein, cover boy? Word this morning that the Iraqi president might own a stake in your favorite magazine.
With that, and a market preview first, Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Paula.
Yesterday, we had what is known as an NLR, a nice little rally.
ZAHN: Yes, and...
SERWER: An NLR. Up 78 points on the Dow. Everything kind of came up; that was nice. But I'll tell you something...
ZAHN: You've got a sliding scale for rallies.
SERWER: Yes, I do. I'm easy.
ZAHN: Now, is anything over 50 points included as a rally?
SERWER: Yes, oh, thats big.
ZAHN: OK, I'm with you.
SERWER: Anyway, February making us shiver here. We could be down for the third month in a row. The Dow would have to go up 170 points today for us to be up for the month. I would not necessarily count on it. The futures are down.
Let's talk about Saddam Hussein, though, shall we?
ZAHN: This is the weirdest story.
SERWER: This is really amazing. Saddam, as it turns out, owns a stake in a company that owns a lot of very popular American magazines. There he is, magazine mogul, Saddam Hussein. He owns a 2 percent stake in a French company that owns magazines, such as "Elle," "Premier"...
ZAHN: Do you suppose he's ever seen "Elle and "Road & Track?"
SERWER: "Elle," he reads it faithfully. "Road & Track" is a favorite. "Car & Driver," "Road & Track." "Women's Day." I mean, this is amazing. He owns a 2 percent stake in the French company, Hachette Filipacchi, which is owned by this French conglomerate, Lagardere -- excuse my pronunciation here, please.
ZAHN: Oui, oui.
SERWER: $90 million in this company. It's a little bit less than a 2 percent stake. He's owned this for a long time, as you can see there. It was frozen in 1991. A lot of people assumed it was sold off over the past decade, ne no (ph). He still owns this piece. You know...
ZAHN: So, would it be worth even more than that?
SERWER: I would assume it would be, yes, because -- although I've got to tell you, the stock has gone down. It's performed very poorly over the past three years. It's lost 60 percent of its value. Yea!
ZAHN: Let me ask you this. Are any board members outraged that he continues to hold a stake?
SERWER: Well...
ZAHN: Whether these, you know, funds are frozen or not?
SERWER: I don't know about that, but I do know that there was some damage control done when they first found out Saddam owned this. Advertisers were called up, tried to mollify, and if people are concerned about french fries and boycotting French wine, how about a company that is part owned by Saddam Hussein? I mean, advertisers have got to wonder about that, I would think.
ZAHN: You've just got to wonder what Saddam Hussein's thinking might be today if he bothered to pick up a copy of "Women's Day."
SERWER: Or "Road & Track." I mean, I don't know if he likes the GTO versus the Barracuda, you know, some classic muscle cars. I don't know if he's into that.
ZAHN: Well, that is one bizarre story.
SERWER: It is bizarre, isn't it?
ZAHN: Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
SERWER: OK.
ZAHN: See you later, Andy.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Magazines>
