NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 23, 2021 / Labaton Sucharow, a nationally ranked and award-winning shareholder rights law firm, is investigating potential securities violations and breach of fiduciary duty claims against Qurate Retail, Inc. (NASDAQ:QRTEA).
The investigation seeks to determine whether Qurate and/or the company's officers and directors violated securities laws or breached their fiduciary duties to stockholders in connection with recent corporate actions.
Quarte has two classes of common shares: A shares with one vote per share and B shares with 10 votes per share. Until recently, John Malone owned almost all of the B shares. Last month, he reached a deal to sell all of his B shares to his long-time lieutenant and current Quarte Executive Chairman Greg Maffei. That triggered a call right the Company had to acquire those B shares, which the Company exercised. Under Maffei's employment agreement, that transaction provided Maffei the right to resign for good reason and receive severance. Instead of allowing Maffei to either resign and take the severance or stay on under his current employment agreement, the Company agreed to grant Maffei a large amount of B shares in the form of restricted stock with time-based vesting conditions and to allow him to swap 5.3 million of his A shares for B shares. As a result, Maffei now controls about 18% of the vote, with the potential to increase that through future exchange rights he received, despite only owning 2.3% of the outstanding equity.
If you currently own shares and/or options of QRTEA and want to receive additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please contact David J. Schwartz using the toll-free number (800) 321-0476 or via email at [email protected].
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CONTACT:
David J. Schwartz
(800) 321-0476
[email protected]
SOURCE: Labaton Sucharow LLP