Mark Cuban snaps up almost 10% stake in Carmike Cinemas
NEW YORK -- In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Cuban reported buying 1.2 million Carmike shares on the open market for roughly $2.8 million of his own funds. According to the filing, Cuban has been acquiring the shares through his personal investment account since mid-October.
Cuban, who has been controversial within the National Basketball Association — racking up more than $1 million in fines for his behavior on the court — has recently become the target of civil lawsuit alleging insider trading.
In November, federal regulators accused Cuban of using confidential information to bail out of an investment in search-engine company Mamma.com Inc. in 2004, avoiding about $750,000 in losses. Cuban has denied any wrongdoing.
Cuban is not facing jail time, but could be forced to pay a penalty of close to $3 million if he is found guilty.
According to the SEC's case, Cuban told his broker to sell his Mamma.com shares after the company's then-chief executive confidentially told him of a stock offering that would dilute the value of stock held by current investors.
Cuban owned a 6.3% stake in Mamma.com at that time and was the largest-known shareholder in the search-engine company. The Montreal-based company changed its name to Copernic in 2007 although the website remains known as Mamma.com.
In Monday's SEC filing, Cuban said he acquired his stake in Columbus, Ga.-based Carmike for investment purposes. He reserved his right to discuss the company's performance and strategic direction with Carmike's stockholders, officers or directors.
Cuban co-owns movie theater chain Landmark Theatres with Todd Wagner, who was his co-founder of the pioneering online audio streamer Audionet. The service, later named Broadcast.com, was sold by Cuban and Wagner to Yahoo! in 1999.
Related Stories
ABC News Live