Green Mountain Loses Founder Over Stock Sale Conflict (GMCR)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is seeing its situation go from bad to worse. Now there is a management shuffle at the top due to inconsistent stock sales to meet margin calls. Sometimes you just cannot make up…
Chairman and founder Robert Stiller is out. Green Mountain has appointed Michael J. Mardy, a director and chair of the Company’s Audit and Finance Committee, as interim Chairman of the Board. Ms. Hinda S. Miller, who is chair of the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, has been appointed as Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee.
Robert Stiller sold 5 million shares to meet a margin call and the Form 4 filing noted, “The sales of Common Stock were effected by a financial institution pursuant to a margin call because the reporting person’s account did not satisfy the minimum margin requirements under various margin loans. The total number of shares reported as sold on this Form 4 is 5,000,000.” The problem here is that Stiller is the founder and chairman of Green Mountain.
The full release has all of the details but this is something that may be far from over. Both members who are being booted will remain on the board but will not receive their normal compensation until the company’s review of the situation is over.
Green Mountain shares are down only 1.6% at $25.95 in pre-market trading and the 52-week range is $24.03 to $115.98.
JON C. OGG
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Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.