Why would someone with $1B net worth risk everything for a 4000 share IMCL trade.... My Answer.... Some Wealthy people were more lucky than smart!
Not only that, but some of the wealthiest people I have known in my life are some of the biggest cheapskates one would ever care to meet...The kind of people who have eight figure net worths but struggle to even leave a 15% tip...My intuition tells me Martha probably fit into this category...Someone who lost total perspective of what she really had, but was penny pinching over something that caused her entire downfall...
this week "Martha Stewart, dogged by questions about her role in the ImClone Systems Inc. insider trading scandal, has resigned from the New York Stock Exchange board of directors"
yup, they're called misers, i'd almost call it an obsessive compulsive disorder, they dont spend money at all. there's a guy where i work that refuses to pitch in for coworker's birthday presents, and the few times we've gone out to eat or drink, has to divide his "share" down to the penny (i'm serious!). if we order appetizers like nachos, he'll say i shouldn't have to pay as much because i ate less nachos than you all. i'm glad we've got a great comedian in our group to put him in his place once in a while, but our miser feels no shame.
In my opinion, if Martha Stewart goes down (not on me), it will be because of her lack of character. It was not her cheapskate or miserly ways that made her sell the IMCL stock. Her lacking courage to do the right thing, is what caused her to (allegedly) trade on insider information. There is nothing wrong morally, in my opinion, with being cheap or miserly. Now dishonesty, that is another story.