HOLLYWOOD PARK : Hubbard Claims a Voting Majority
R.D. Hubbard, accelerating his plan to oust Marje Everett and assume control of Hollywood Park, announced Monday that he had received approval from a majority of the shareholders.
Hubbard, who said he would become chief executive officer and chairman of the board, added that his 11 candidates for the Hollywood Park Operating Co. board would confer Wednesday via telephone to elect new officers.
Hubbard, a Texas glassmaker who owns race tracks in Kansas City, Kan., and Ruidoso, N.M., said Hollywood Park investors who own 51 1/2% of the stock have voted in his favor. Hubbard needed more than 50% by the voting deadline Monday.
Hubbard said about 2.046 million shares have been voted in his favor, and 65,000 consent cards have been received in opposition to his takeover. Those figures indicate that investors owning about 53% of the total stock in Hollywood Park have responded.
Shareholders also received cards from Everett that would enable them to revoke their support of Hubbard, but Hubbard predicted there would not be a sufficient response to take him below the 50% mark.
“I don’t think they (Everett’s supporters) have enough,” Hubbard said. “We will know the net number by Wednesday or Thursday.”
Everett, the adopted daughter of a race track family from Chicago who has been in control of Hollywood Park since the early 1970s, has already started legal proceedings that could block Hubbard’s takeover. She has charged Hubbard and two other major track shareholders, Harry Ornest and Tom Gamel, with violations of the Securities and Exchange Act, and a court hearing on her request for a preliminary injunction is scheduled Friday.
Charlie Perkins, a New York spokesman for Everett, responded to Hubbard’s announcement by saying: “He’s declaring victory before the consents have been counted. We have distributed hundreds of thousands of revocation cards and we feel that enough of those will be sent in so that we can win.
“Hubbard started with 35% of the stock, so he only picked up about 15% more than that. It will be at least a week before a thorough count is made.”
Hubbard is Hollywood Park’s largest shareholder with about 10% of the stock. Other shareholders who reportedly voted for Hubbard were Ornest, who holds about 10%; Gamel, 5.6%; Chris Bardis, 4.9%, and Lester Crown, 3%.
Crown, a Chicago industrialist who is also a part owner of the New York Yankees, reportedly was a key vote that Hubbard needed to go over the 50% mark. Crown had earlier said he was going be neutral in the battle, but threw his support to Hubbard several days ago.
Should the revocations take Hubbard below 50%, he would again challenge Everett’s control through a proxy fight at the track’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is scheduled Feb. 18.
Hubbard’s candidates for the operating company board, besides himself, are Richard Boushka, J.R. Johnson, F. Van Kasper, Howard W. Koch, Robert T. Manfuso, John Newman, Ornest, Kjell Qvale, Herman Sarkowsky and Warren B. Williamson. Newman, Ornest and Williamson are members of the current Hollywood board, which is controlled by Everett.
Everett owns almost 9% of the stock, but her supporters on the board--John Forsythe, Merv Griffin, Aaron Spelling, Allen Paulson and Stan Seiden-- have small holdings. Another board member, Bruce McNall, has distanced himself from the Hubbard-Everett battle in recent weeks.
Griffin reportedly said in a recent court deposition that he would resign from the board if Hubbard’s support went over 50%.
Williamson is chairman of Hollywood Park Realty Co., which controls the land and leases the Inglewood site to Hollywood Park Operating Co. Hubbard, who was already a member of realty, controls that board.
Williamson, a former ally of Everett’s, has become her severest critic. “If you were conducting an executive search,” he said Monday, “and you looked at her record and his (Hubbard’s) record, it would take you about 30 seconds to make a choice.”
Under Everett, Hollywood Park’s attendance and handle have declined, and the track went about $100 million in debt after she built a six-story pavilion at the Inglewood track and bought the Los Alamitos track. The sale of Los Alamitos has more than halved Hollywood Park’s debt, and this year shareholders began receiving dividends after 3 1/2 years without them.
Williamson has called a meeting of the realty board for Thursday. Hubbard has announced a slate for that board, consisting of himself, Williamson, Newman, Gamel, Jeffrey Rhodes, Vernon Underwood Jr., Ornest and Lynn P. Reitnouer. Three members who have supported Everett--James M. Nederlander, Leo Jaffe and Gay Firestone Wray--are not expected to remain on the realty board.
Hubbard said Monday that his new management team would include Don Robbins and Mike Finnigan, who have worked as general manager and chief financial officer, respectively, under Everett. Hubbard said he has no plans to work at the track on a day-to-day basis.
“Developing a decent marketing program is our No. 1 priority,” Hubbard said. “This is something that has been neglected, along with group sales. I hope to make Hollywood Park the track of the lakes and flowers and the goose girl again.”
The “goose girl,” who greeted fans from the infield, was a familiar figure long identified with the track.
Hubbard also said he would reduce Hollywood’s main track to one mile in circumference. Everett had the track lengthened from a mile to 1 1/8 miles in 1984.
The pavilion, which is located near the clubhouse turn and has poor sightlines, is something else Hubbard plans to change. Everett sued contractors and architects after the pavilion opened in 1984.
“I’m going to shut it down,” Hubbard said. “The only thing it’s good for is simulcasting.”
When Hollywood Park isn’t running, it offers betting on televised racing from Del Mar. Hollywood Park and Santa Anita are not open at the same time, and Hubbard would like to see each track take bets on the other’s races.
