Reuters: Market News: Green Mountain chairman cut holdings in co - filings

Reuters: Market News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Green Mountain chairman cut holdings in co - filings Mar 26th 2012, 22:01 By Mihir Dalal March 26 | Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:01pm EDT March 26 (Reuters) - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc's Chairman Robert Stiller cut his stake in the company last month -- the second insider to reduce his holdings at a time when increased competition in single-cup coffee has hurt the stock. According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Stiller sold roughly $33 million each in Green Mountain shares in two transactions on Feb. 15 and Feb. 24. Stiller, who founded the company in 1981 and took it public in September 1993, now owns about 8.4 percent of Green Mountain's stock. Italy's Luigi Lavazza, which is collaborating with Green Mountain to make an espresso machine, also cut its stake in the company to 5.5 percent from 6 percent in late February, according to a regulatory filing. The stock sales came days before Green Mountain shares plunged 16 percent on March 9, as Starbucks Corp announced plans to launch its own single-cup coffee and espresso drink machine, putting it in direct competition with Green Mountain's Keurig brewers. In a regulatory filing on March 9, Green Mountain said the company had "recently learned of Starbucks' planned initiative in the espresso-based single-cup category." It is unclear as to when exactly Starbucks told Green Mountain about its plans of launching a new brewer. A Green Mountain spokeswoman pointed to the SEC filing on March 9, but declined to comment further. Luigi Lavazza could not be reached for comment outside business hours. Earlier this month, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the company had told Green Mountain about its plans to launch a brewer, but did not specify when the information was shared. On Monday, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson declined to give specific dates when that disclosure was made. Competition in single-cup coffee has been intensifying with companies ranging from Nestle SA to Wal-Mart Stores Inc indicating strong interest in the market dominated by Keurig. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions