P.M. BRIEFING : Hallmark Repurchases Stock
From Times Wire Services
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Greeting card giant Hallmark Cards Inc. said it has bought back $289 million of its own stock from the Hall family and from the company’s employee profit-sharing and ownership plan.
The stock was bought Dec. 28 with “available corporate cash reserves,” Hallmark spokesman Steve Doyal said Tuesday.
The shares were repurchased so the employee plan would have enough cash to pay for future retirements, Doyal said.
Hallmark bought about $190-million worth of stock from the Hall family and about $99 million from the employee plan.
The Hall family, descendants of company founder Joyce C. Hall, owns two-thirds of the company’s stock and the employee plan owns the other third.
