Nov 10, 2006 1:57 pm US/Mountain
Qwest Execs Cash In More Than $43M In Options
DENVER (AP) ―
Three
Qwest Communications International Inc. executives have cashed in more than $43 million in stock options, according to regulatory filings this week.
Chief Executive
Dick Notebaert made a profit of $18.4 million and Chief Financial Officer Oren Shaffer had a profit of $18.5 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.
Chief Legal Officer Rich Baer cashed in $6.4 million worth of options, according to SEC documents filed earlier this week.
Notebaert plans to donate his after-tax proceeds to charities, Qwest spokesman Nicholas Sweers said. Sweers did not identify the charities.
Shaffer and Baer have not revealed any plans for their proceeds.
The sales were disclosed about a month after Philip Anschutz, Qwest's founder and largest shareholder, contracted to sell 80 million shares through 2010.
Together, the sales are "not a good sign for existing shareholders," Janco Partners telecom analyst Donna Jaegers told The Denver Post in Friday's editions. "Those are sizable chunks of what they own."
Sweers said the executives still have substantial stock options they have not sold. With Qwest share prices up by more than 80 percent year-over-year, "All shareholders have been rewarded by the company's financial and operational performance," Sweers said.
Qwest has announced plans to buy back up to $2 billion worth of its stock over two years.
Qwest shares were down 21 cents to $8.24 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Notebaert's planned donations prompted Curtis Kennedy, an attorney for Qwest retirees, to quip that Notebaert should consider contributing to the retirees association. The group "is nonprofit and serving the interests of tens of thousands of soon-to-be-impoverished retirees," he told the Rocky Mountain News in Friday's editions.
Qwest said last month it planned to reduce health- and life-insurance benefits for thousands of retirees and would no longer offer cost-of-living increases in pensions.
Qwest spokesman Bob Toevs said the company still pays monthly health care premiums for those who retired before 1991, which he said includes most of its retirees. Qwest is legally obligated to do so.
Denver-based Qwest is the primary phone service provider in 14 Midwestern and Western states.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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