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Non-Tech : Staples (SPLS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (181)	3/25/2001 10:10:51 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Respond to of 184

Insiders enriched: Staples.com share buyback seen enriching staff-WSJ NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - Office products retailer Staples Inc.'s <SPLS.O> plan for repurchasing the shares of its online unit, Staples.com, will hand tens of millions of dollars in profits to top executives, directors and other insiders, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Friday. The Framingham, Mass.-based company on Tuesday said it would no longer pursue a planned initial public offering of Staples.com stock, and instead convert Staples.com shares into Staples Inc. common stock. Staples is proposing to buy back the shares of Staples.com at a sharp premium to the stock's valuation during the height of the Internet craze, the paper said. Under the buyback deal, 27 executives and corporate directors would get about $37 million in Staples stock, the paper said. Other investors, largely employees and venture capitalists, would get an additional $85 million, the paper said. Overall, the deal values the unit at about $900 million, or $7 a share, which is is more than double the $3.25 a share it was valued at in the fall of 1999, when Staples began selling shares in the unit in private transactions, the paper said. The buyback deal will come up for shareholder approval in May, the paper noted. Staples' shares finished unchanged at $15-5/8 on the Nasdaq Thursday. The stock has a 52-week high of $22-1/2 and a 52-week low of 10-1/4. 02:39 03-23-01