WorldCom CEO May Be Securing Loans With Timber, Ranch, WSJ Says
By Vivien Lou Chen
Clinton, Mississippi, April 12 (Bloomberg) -- WorldCom Inc. Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers may be securing $343 million in loans from the company with timber assets, a yacht-building business, and a ranch in Canada, the Wall Street Journal said.
WorldCom is expected to disclose details of Ebbers' assets for the first time in a government filing over the next week, the paper said. People familiar with Ebbers' holdings said Ebbers may sell the yacht-building business in Savannah, Georgia, and the British Columbia ranch to pay off the loans, according to the Journal.
Ebbers' 8 million WorldCom options are largely worthless, and he has about 17 million shares, worth about $81 million, of the second-biggest U.S. local phone company, the Journal said.
``Maybe I wasn't the best financial planner,'' Ebbers told the Journal. ``But I never believed the stock in the company would be where it is today.''
Ebbers owns a soybean farm in Louisiana, a Mississippi mansion, and a stake in a refrigerated trucking company, the Journal said.
(WSJ 4-12) For the Web site of the Wall Street Journal, see {WWSJ } |
