Breaking Update: Court Unseals Potentially Devastating Testimony-Romney Said Stocks Sold at 1/10th

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78. The only information I have is the transcript which is available to everyone now.

The lawyer examining him seems to establish that for some purposes the company, at that time, valued the stock at even less than what it was selling for in 1987-1988, that in dealing with Sears it came to the conclusion that the target sale price at that time was 100-130 million, but that Sears counteroffered with an offer of only $40 million and the board wasn't interested. There is a discussion about whether Mr. Stemberg was permitted to talk to his wife about the valuation of the company back in 1987 which seemed to conclude that he was able to, but since he wasn't the witness it wasn't brought out whether he did so. There is nothing in the transcript to suggest that Romney communicated with Ms. Stemberg. It also was established that Mr. Stemberg seemed to do a better job at evaluating the market value of the stock than Romney (i.e., when new investors were offered stock was offered at $2.90 per share in 1987. Romney thought that price (which was pushed by Stemberg) was too high and, indeed, Romney didn't buy as much stock at that price as he could have. Turns out it was a successful offering because other investors were willing to pay $2.90 for that stock (which was "preferred" stock with more rights than the stock that Stemberg owned and that was effectively transferred to Ms. Stemberg.

My point is that based on the transcript (available here: http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/1025_romney_2.pdf) I don't see anything that amounts to a hill of beans. Now if the gag order is lifted and Ms. Stemberg has more to say, that might change things. But remember, it was her attorney who deposed Romney, obtained documents from Romney, and questioned him in court about the valuation of the stock (and the gag order would not have prevented her from discussing the divorce and surrounding matters with her attorney).