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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Stewart, Corporate Villain or Misguided Trader?
Aired June 04, 2003 - 07:48 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Martha, Martha, facing a legal mess right now that even she cannot sweep under the rug. Why then are so many people so upset with Martha Stewart?
Andy Serwer is off. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning -- Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning.
HEMMER: Front-page news, explain to us why so much criticism right now, even before indictments that some say are forthcoming soon have not been handed down?
WILLIS: Well, at issue, it's not a small thing. At issue is Martha is accused by some of possible insider trading in her shares of ImClone. This means that she used insider information to make money on her ImClone shares. She owned some 4,000 of them, and this is a pretty big deal.
But I've got to tell you, compared to the other corporate scandals going on right now, it just doesn't stack up.
HEMMER: Oh really? It pales?
WILLIS: Oh, you bet. I mean, look at HealthSouth...
HEMMER: Yes.
WILLIS: ... $2.5 billion in accounting fraud there. Tyco International, $600 million. Martha Stewart's shares were worth $228,000. I mean, come on. This doesn't even compare.
HEMMER: So, why then does it appear that she has a target right on her forehead and so many people are gunning for her?
WILLIS: Well, this is not new, right? I mean, Martha was called an ice princess way before these allegations came up. She's not been popular, in part because she's been so successful. And I think part of that is because she's a strong, driving woman. You know, if she was a fellow, she might be Jack Welch or someone like that, right? She took 12 years, just 12 years, to drive her company into a variety of different kinds of products, from the Internet, she has five magazines, she has eight books, four TV shows. And I think that some people are just jealous of Martha! HEMMER: You think they're trying to chip away the perfection and the empire?
WILLIS: You bet. You bet.
HEMMER: All right, we'll see.
Jeffrey Toobin says look out for today.
WILLIS: It's going to be interesting.
HEMMER: We'll see. Thank you, Gerri. Talk to you next hour.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Misguided Trader?>
Aired June 4, 2003 - 07:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Martha, Martha, facing a legal mess right now that even she cannot sweep under the rug. Why then are so many people so upset with Martha Stewart?
Andy Serwer is off. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Good morning -- Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning.
HEMMER: Front-page news, explain to us why so much criticism right now, even before indictments that some say are forthcoming soon have not been handed down?
WILLIS: Well, at issue, it's not a small thing. At issue is Martha is accused by some of possible insider trading in her shares of ImClone. This means that she used insider information to make money on her ImClone shares. She owned some 4,000 of them, and this is a pretty big deal.
But I've got to tell you, compared to the other corporate scandals going on right now, it just doesn't stack up.
HEMMER: Oh really? It pales?
WILLIS: Oh, you bet. I mean, look at HealthSouth...
HEMMER: Yes.
WILLIS: ... $2.5 billion in accounting fraud there. Tyco International, $600 million. Martha Stewart's shares were worth $228,000. I mean, come on. This doesn't even compare.
HEMMER: So, why then does it appear that she has a target right on her forehead and so many people are gunning for her?
WILLIS: Well, this is not new, right? I mean, Martha was called an ice princess way before these allegations came up. She's not been popular, in part because she's been so successful. And I think part of that is because she's a strong, driving woman. You know, if she was a fellow, she might be Jack Welch or someone like that, right? She took 12 years, just 12 years, to drive her company into a variety of different kinds of products, from the Internet, she has five magazines, she has eight books, four TV shows. And I think that some people are just jealous of Martha! HEMMER: You think they're trying to chip away the perfection and the empire?
WILLIS: You bet. You bet.
HEMMER: All right, we'll see.
Jeffrey Toobin says look out for today.
WILLIS: It's going to be interesting.
HEMMER: We'll see. Thank you, Gerri. Talk to you next hour.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Misguided Trader?>
