Targeting Janus

Daily Kos has a list of the top investors in the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The last on the list, holding about 1.5 million shares of SBGI stock, is Janus Capital Corp.

Let's begin with the smallest large investor (which Janus may or may not be--I don't know how definitive Kos' list is) and hit them with letters encouraging them to rethink ownership of a company which is likely to face FEC investigations, civil lawsuits, and a seriously damaged reputation brought on by their plan to engage in illegal electioneering.

Here's my letter. Click the Janus link and write your own.

I understand that Janus controls nearly 1.5 million shares of the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has announced a plan to engage in illegal electioneering in coming weeks.

Sinclair's stock price has already begun to sink, and web-organized activism is likely to hurt it more. Later, FEC investigations and possible prosecution will damage Sinclair's reputation, and the fight to protect broadcast licenses for Sinclair stations in North and South Carolina (renewal date: December 2004) and Florida (renewal date: January 2005) will mire the company in expensive legal proceedings.

I have long thought of Janus as a responsible corporate citizen. I'm not aware of Janus being implicated in any of the fiscal shenanigans of the late 90s, and it would be a shame for Janus to become a target of the activism that is about to break against Sinclair.

I know that I would not choose to invest with Janus right now unless the SBGI stock was gotten rid of. I will be certain to notify my friends, family, coworkers, and employer of the potential for Janus to come to grief because of this unwise holding.