RE:Various thoughtsGood thoughts 20.
Fairfax has the time and the money to be patient and when final fatigue sets in for the Voting Trust the privatization will take place. I don't know if a takeout price has been established, but I doubt it has any relationship to the market price. The Voting Trust will need a price that allows them to belatedly say they were looking out for the best interests of all shareholders while maintaining Torstar is being passed onto an enlightened and benevolent owner who will enshrine the Atkinson Principles in some benign manner.
As for the notion the CEO has to be careful about what he states publicly I would generally agree. The fact Boynton can say that VerticalScope enjoyed "solid growth" is a nose-stretcher of the highest order. He knew it was the growth they had bought and the core business was declining by 10% plus. The "transformation" fantasy discourse is a time-buyer and the longer he can line his pockets before the privatization the better from his perspective. I would not trust this marketing clown as far as I could throw him. When the rest of the Voting Trust comes to this realization they will show him and Honderich the door. That can't happen too soon for the sake of all of the hostages still employed within Torstar.
Finally, if the privatization price has been established it may explain why board member and executives have not purchased a single share of Torstar. That kind of insider knowledge would preclude them from buying. There is no other explanation for why shares with a dividend yielding more than 8% wouldn't be purchased by the CEO at a minimum. Just too obvious a signal that more is going on that has not been disclosed to the public.