Internet billionaire Mark Cuban has apparently cashed out of at least some of his Charter Communications Inc. stock, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday after market close.
Cuban, founder of Broadcast.com and currently owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks and HDTV service HDNet, had owned about 6.2% of Charter stock, or some 19 million shares.
Cuban originally bought into Charter in October 2002, snapping up about 15.6 million shares (5.3%), according to SEC documents. According to a proxy statement filed by Charter in June 2004, Cuban’s position increased to about 19 million shares.
In an SEC filing Monday, Cuban disclosed that he is no longer a 5% owner of Charter stock and listed his holdings at zero.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Cuban dumped his entire position -- just that he sold enough to dip under the 5% ownership threshold.
In an e-mail response to a question, Cuban said he did not sell his entire Charter stake.
“I didn’t sell them all. I sold enough to get under the filing requirement,” Cuban wrote. He added that his position was listed at zero “because I have a hedge on the shares.”
Cuban’s purchase of Charter stock in 2002 was a strong catalyst for the shares -- they rose 33%, or 31 cents each, to $1.25 per share on the day his initial position was announced.
Charter stock closed at $1.32 in 4 p.m. trading Monday.
