Michael Burns, vice chairman of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., lost 49 percent of his stake in the film company Oct. 10 in a forced liquidation by Merrill Lynch & Co. as the stock plunged to more than a four-year low.
Merrill sold 672,000 shares for $4.04 million to meet maintenance requirements, according to regulatory filings by Burns on Oct. 14. The sales left him with 689,635 shares, filings show.
The plunging stock market has forced media executives such as billionaire Sumner Redstone to liquidate holdings to meet loan terms. National Amusements Inc., Redstone’s holding company, sold $233 million in stock of New York-based CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. last week and is in talks with lenders.
“The recent multiweek crash has created once-in-a- lifetime low-valuation entry opportunities,” David Joyce, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, said Tuesday.
The stock sales coincide with purchases by billionaire Carl Icahn, who called the stock a bargain.
