MGM Grand chairman to sell stock for nearly $14 mil.

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:24 a.m.

MGM Grand Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Lanni is selling a third of his stake in the company for nearly $14 million.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing indicates Lanni planned to sell 300,000 shares at an average of $46.50 per share. As of March 31, the date of MGM's last proxy filing, Lanni held 1.04 million shares, giving him a 1.63 percent stake in the company.

But 1 million of those shares listed were subject to stock options that became exercisable on or before May 11, indicating most of the shares he's selling came from the exercise of those options. Lanni's options had an exercise price of $26 per share, which means Lanni made a net profit of $6.15 million.

Lanni received $1 million in base pay and $500,000 in bonuses in 1998. He received no options, however.

It was Lanni's first insider sale in at least 18 months, SEC records indicate. Lanni couldn't be reached for comment.

Also on Friday, MGM announced it had completed its stock buyback. MGM had offered $50 per share; the company said about 15 million shares were actually tendered in the offer, but it had only purchased 6 million shares, as originally announced. The shares tendered represented about 24.3 percent of MGM's outstanding stock.

MGM's stock is up more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year.

It closed Monday at $44.75, off 44 cents.