carnes@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP (Richard Carnes) (01/11/85)
News item from the NYT, Jan. 11, 1985 (article by Sally Bedell Smith): Senator Jesse Helms is helping to organize an effort by conservative investors to buy sufficient stock in CBS to change what the North Carolina Republican says is the "liberal bias" in coverage by CBS News of "political events, personages and views." The action by Senator Helms, taken in conjunction with a new group called Fairness in Media, was disclosed in papers filed by the group yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the documents, Senator Helms sent letters to conservatives around the country urging them to buy shares in CBS in order to influence the company. The papers specified that once Fairness in Media had gathered enough new shareholders from its letter, "they intend to request a meeting with the company to obtain management's views concerning their proposal that the company end what F.I.M. believes to be its liberal bias in news reporting and editorial policies." In the event that CBS management disregards or rejects their proposals, the group may try to gain control of the company, the documents said. Mary Boies, CBS vice president for corporate information, said the company would not comment on the matter until it "has studied the documents filed with the S.E.C." --[omissions]-- A letter spelling out the goals of the campaign and signed by Senator Helms was earlier disclosed by The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C. That version of the letter urged one million conservatives to participate in the campaign to buy CBS stock and "become Dan Rather's boss." Mr. Rather is the anchor of "The CBS Evening News." CBS officials said there are 29.7 million shares of CBS stock held by about 24,000 shareholders. William S. Paley, the former CBS chairman, is the largest individual stockholder, with 6.55 percent. The price of a share of CBS stock closed yesterday at $73.875. All Americans can now breathe a sigh of relief that the era of biased news reporting is coming to an end. Like most conservatives, Sen. Helms knows where the real power is, and does not make the common mistake of assuming that the liberal reporters and editors at CBS have the ultimate control over what is broadcast. He correctly concentrates on buying up the company's stock. Back to the tube: "...In a speech before the American Legion today, our great President, Ronald Reagan, pointed out that--" Click. Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes Chairman, Jesse Helms for President of Paraguay Committee
gam@amdahl.UUCP (gam) (01/13/85)
> News item from the NYT, Jan. 11, 1985 (article by Sally Bedell Smith): > > ...According to the documents, Senator Helms sent letters to > conservatives around the country urging them to buy shares in CBS > in order to influence the company.... > CBS officials said there are 29.7 million shares of CBS stock held by > about 24,000 shareholders. William S. Paley, the former CBS > chairman, is the largest individual stockholder, with 6.55 percent. > The price of a share of CBS stock closed yesterday at $73.875. So in order get controlling influence of the company (ie, get 50.000...0001% of the stock of CBS) would cost 29.7M * $73.875 (say) / 2 = $1097.04M = $1+ BILLION. I understand from an "All Things Considered" report that the plan was to send the letters to 1 million conservatives. Each (and every one!) would have to buy $1000 of CBS stock (guess what such a rush to buy will do to the stock price?). And then they all have to agree (each and every one!) on what policies CBS should follow. -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam
baba@spar.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS) (01/13/85)
> > News item from the NYT, Jan. 11, 1985 (article by Sally Bedell Smith): > > > > ...According to the documents, Senator Helms sent letters to > > conservatives around the country urging them to buy shares in CBS > > in order to influence the company.... I wonder how many shares Senator Helms and his buddies *already* own, and can sell to his conservative dupes at a massive profit during the run-up that will result from even a half-hearted takeover attempt. Baba
gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg Kuperberg) (01/14/85)
[All about Jesse Helms planning to control CBS] > So in order get controlling influence of the company (ie, get > 50.000...0001% of the stock of CBS) would cost > 29.7M * $73.875 (say) / 2 = $1097.04M = $1+ BILLION. > > I understand from an "All Things Considered" report that the plan > was to send the letters to 1 million conservatives. Each (and > every one!) would have to buy $1000 of CBS stock (guess what such > a rush to buy will do to the stock price?). And then they all > have to agree (each and every one!) on what policies CBS should > follow. > -- > Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam I heard he was planning on buying the solar system next. :-) --- Greg Kuperberg harvard!talcott!gjk "Nice boy, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice." - Foghorn Leghorn
gadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly) (01/15/85)
-- >> I wonder how many shares Senator Helms and his buddies *already* own, >> and can sell to his conservative dupes at a massive profit during the >> run-up that will result from even a half-hearted takeover attempt. >> Baba I doubt that they own very much. Yet. I'd like to see them succeed, though. It will certainly be worth the price of admission to watch them either sacrifice their principles for profits or else see a lot of life savings go down the drain. You think anyone will watch the kind of "wholesome" programming and news these fascists would put on? -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 14 Jan 85 [25 Nivose An CXCIII] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7188 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***
steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (01/15/85)
#
act@pur-phy.UUCP (Alex C. Tselis) (01/16/85)
In article <929@amdahl.UUCP> gam@amdahl.UUCP (gam) writes: >> News item from the NYT, Jan. 11, 1985 (article by Sally Bedell Smith): >> >> ...According to the documents, Senator Helms sent letters to >> conservatives around the country urging them to buy shares in CBS >> in order to influence the company.... >> CBS officials said there are 29.7 million shares of CBS stock held by >> about 24,000 shareholders. William S. Paley, the former CBS >> chairman, is the largest individual stockholder, with 6.55 percent. >> The price of a share of CBS stock closed yesterday at $73.875. > >So in order get controlling influence of the company (ie, get >50.000...0001% of the stock of CBS) would cost > 29.7M * $73.875 (say) / 2 = $1097.04M = $1+ BILLION. > >I understand from an "All Things Considered" report that the plan >was to send the letters to 1 million conservatives. Each (and >every one!) would have to buy $1000 of CBS stock (guess what such >a rush to buy will do to the stock price?). And then they all >have to agree (each and every one!) on what policies CBS should >follow. >-- >Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,sun}!amdahl!gam But suppose that the conservatives did get control and were able to influence editorial decisions. What would happen? All the best people would leave, the ratings would plummet, and the price of the stock takes a nosedive. This is not the sort of thing conservatives would be likely to get into. (It might lead, eventually, to my buying lots of cheap CBS stock, and then, when everybody returned to CBS and the price rose, I could make a killing!!! After all, at 50 cents a share, even I could afford it.)
mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (01/17/85)
Right, there was a story in the Tribune regarding the Helms bid. It noted that few people take it as anything more than a fundraising ploy. Mike Kelly