Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia gave reality television king Mark Burnett the chance to buy $14 million worth of stock at a deep discount to keep him as a producer for the daytime show “Martha.”
The company said yesterday that it recently reached a deal to give Burnett a warrant to purchase 833,333 shares in the company at a price of $12.59 per share – or about 27 percent below yesterday’s closing price of $17.26.
The stock award is essentially to compensate Burnett for the portion of an earlier stock warrant that failed to vest, according to a filing yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2004 Burnett was given a warrant to purchase 2.5 million shares, but only two-thirds eventually vested, the company said.
Burnett, who is the executive producer of “Martha,” was also the producer behind the failed “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” show, which aired in the wake of Stewart’s release from prison after her conviction for lying about a stock transaction. Burnett is best known as the producer of the hit reality series “Survivor.”
The latest share grant will vest subject to reaching “various milestones relating to the production and distribution of ‘Martha,'” the company said in the SEC filing.
The stock grant, which expires in 2012, is worth $6.9 million over the next six years, according to Bloomberg.
In last year’s third quarter, the company shelled out $10.8 million to compensate Burnett – a cost that contributed to the company coming up short of expectations for the quarter.
In the most recent quarter, the company reported a jump in advertising at its flagship magazine “Martha Stewart Living” – news that sent shares soaring.