Redstone stocks up on Midway

Blink and you just might miss it! That's how fast the 82-year-old Sumner Redstone is. The Viacom CEO, through his closely held private holding company National Amusements, has for many months now been buying shares of Midway Games. Recently, however, the pace of his acquisitions has increased dramatically.

"We are seeing significant buying activity, which indicates that Sumner Redstone thinks that the stock will advance even further," David Coleman, editor of Vickers Weekly Insider told Barron's today.

Redstone's purchases recorded since that announcement are as follows:

Transaction date - number of shares bought - share price - total cost
07/01/05 - 96,700 - $11.18 - $1,080,000.00
06/30/05 - 94,700 - $11.17 - $1,060,000.00
06/29/05 - 96,700 - $10.92 - $1,060,000.00
06/28/05 - 95,700 - $10.57 - $1,010,000.00
06/27/05 - 2,000 - $10.57 - $21,140.00
06/27/05 - 81,000 - $10.46 - $846,855.00
06/24/05 - 80,700 - $10.67 - $860,665.50
06/24/05 - 3,400 - $10.67 - $36,261.00
06/23/05 - 84,100 - $11.02 - $926,361.50

As recently as August, 2003, Midway shares traded as low as $2.00. Today, the stock closed at $11.91, a little more than a dollar off its 52-week high of $12.97.

Adding to the mix is the recently announced partnership between Midway Games and Viacom-owned MTV. The two companies will jointly market and sell in-game advertising, as well as collaborate on soundtrack development for three upcoming games.