Timing is everthing:
CHENEY CASHED OUT -
'BIG TIME'
By PAUL THARP
January 5, 2002 -- Dick Cheney cashed out his Halliburton stock at the right time.
Otherwise, he would be holding worthless Halliburton shares, which sank yesterday to a 15-year low.
Halliburton spent much of the day fighting off Wall Street rumors that it had filed for bankruptcy to protect itself against huge new damage awards from asbestos litigation.
The company issued a rare denial of the market rumors, and said it hadn't filed for bankruptcy and didn't face any new big jury awards.
Stock of Halliburton, the world's largest oil services company, has plunged 71 percent in past months over asbestos litigation, wiping out $19 billion of shareholder value. It has more than 146,000 lawsuits pending, and thousands of new claims are being filed each quarter.
Last month, after losing three verdicts totaling more than $150 million, Halliburton had its credit rating lowered by Standard & Poor's, causing its already battered stock to lose nearly half its value in just one day.
It hit a new low of $8.60 yesterday before recovering to close at $10.22, down 69 cents.
When Cheney resigned the chairman-CEO's post, Halliburton shares stood near a record high of $54. He pocketed a $22 million profit on his stock options and got a paycheck of $2.4 million.
Those same options would be worthless today.
The remaining batch of Cheney's stock - 200,000 stock options that couldn't be redeemed until future years - were donated through a trustee as gifts to several charities including the University of Wyoming, giving him a charitable deduction of $7.8 million that he reported in last year's taxes, according to White House reports. Those options are now worthless, too.
Cheney, who ran the company from 1995 to August, 2000, said he cut financial ties with Halliburton to avoid any conflicts for the Bush Administration.
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