Washington Post Story
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Technology News
Sat, 27 Mar 1999, 5:34pm EST
ACTV Stake Cut by Washington Post to 5% From 7%, Filing Says
ACTV Stake Cut by Washington Post to 5% From 7%, Filing Says
Washington, March 26 (Bloomberg) -- The Washington Post Co.
cut its stake in ACTV Inc. to 4.93 percent from 7.05 percent
after shares of the interactive television services provider rose
to their highest price since 1993.
The Washington-based media company sold 705,000 shares of
ACTV for an average of $7.39 apiece, or $5.2 million total,
between March 9 and today, according to a filing with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. The company, which now holds
1.6 million ACTV shares, originally paid $3.3 million for its
stake of 2.3 million ACTV shares.
Washington Post in December said it would sell some of its
stake in New York-based ACTV. The company said it was free to
sell after ACTV on Jan. 2, 1998, failed to make its second and
final $125,000 payment toward acquiring an option to buy back as
many as 1 million of its shares from Washington Post. The option
was $4 a share until March 31, 1998, and $5 a share after that.
ACTV shares closed at 1 3/4 on Jan. 2, 1998.
ACTV shares have since rebounded, rising as high as 8 13/16
on March 1 this year, its highest price since November 1993. The
stock rose 3/16 to 7 11/16 today.
ACTV recorded a $20.9 million net loss applicable to common
shareholders in 1998 on $1.4 million of revenue. The company is
building digital cable networks offering programs provided by Fox
Entertainment Group's Fox Sports Net. ACTV also offers
personalized TV programming services and software to merge TV and
the Internet.
Washington Post, which publishes its flagship newspaper and
Newsweek magazine, owns broadcast and cable TV systems elsewhere
in the U.S., and also holds education interests. The company
once was a strategic partner of ACTV and helped the company
tailor its interactive TV offerings for educational customers.
The publisher, which held a 19.8 percent ACTV stake at the
time, let an option to acquire a majority of ACTV expire in March
1997. That month, ACTV agreed to buy the 1 million-share option
from Washington Post and made its first $125,000 payment on the
option, according to a past filing.
Washington Post shares fell 4 1/4 to close at 524. The
shares have risen 4.1 percent over the past six months.
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