NEW YORK (AP) -- Whoever said talk is cheap hadn't heard about the stock that former President Bush is said to have accepted for addressing an audience in Tokyo last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the former president agreed to take shares in Global Crossing Ltd. in lieu of $80,000 in cash for speaking to a group assembled by the telecommunications startup business. The newspaper said the stock is now worth about $14.4 million.Bush normally gets $100,000 for an overseas speech, the Journal said, but gave a 20 percent discount to Global Crossing whose co-chairman was an old friend, Lodwrick M. Cook, former chief executive of Atlantic Richfield Co.
The newspaper said the day after the speech, Bush expressed curiosity about the company over breakfast with Cook and Global Crossing's other co-chairman, Gary Winnick.
Winnick reportedly suggested that Bush take his fee in stock in their privately held firm instead of cash, and Bush agreed.
Global Crossing went public in August, and its stock price has jumped fivefold. Earlier this week, the Bermuda-based company agreed to buy Frontier Corp., the phone company based in Rochester, N.Y., for $11.2 billion in stock.
The newspaper attributed the report on Bush to people close to the situation. The sources were not identified.
A spokesman for Bush, Michael Dannenhauer, confirmed Friday that the former president made the speech in February 1998 for Global Crossing but declined to say how he was paid. "We are not commenting on that," he said.