Bloomberg TV Examines 'Phantom Shares' in Special Report Tonight

NEW YORK, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Tonight BLOOMBERG TELEVISION(R) examines a little-known stock trading practice that can be affecting your portfolio and your company. The special report, titled "Phantom Shares," explores the problem of "naked shorting" in the stock market. The half-hour BLOOMBERG TELEVISION program is scheduled to air on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 7:00, 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. ET.

Every day, millions of shares of stock are sold but can't be delivered because of an obscure trading practice called "naked short selling." In a normal short sale, an investor borrows shares and sells them, making a profit if the price falls by replacing the borrowed shares with cheaper ones. In a naked short sale, an investor doesn't borrow the shares, but sells them anyway. In extreme cases, the investor sells "Phantom Shares," shares that don't exist. The BLOOMBERG TELEVISION report, anchored by Mike Schneider, explains this practice, how it's executed and what the Securities and Exchange Commission is doing in an effort to control it.

According to the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION report, thousands of publicly-traded companies, including high profile brands such as Overstock.com, Delta Airlines, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts and Taser International, have been affected by naked short selling.

Tonight's program features interviews with naked short selling's highest- profile critic, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne; James Chanos, President of Kynikos Associates who is nicknamed 'The Dean' of short sellers; and Peter Chepucavage, a former SEC attorney who helped write the regulations that were meant to battle abusive short selling.

Bloomberg's exclusive news and follow up reports are available to the public on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION and BLOOMBERG RADIO(R) services worldwide, as well as to Bloomberg subscribers via the BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL(R) service.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg is the leading global provider of data, news and analytics. The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL(R) service and Bloomberg's media services provide real- time and archived financial and market data, pricing, trading, news and communications tools in a single, integrated package to corporations, news organizations, financial and legal professionals and individuals around the world. Bloomberg's media services include the global BLOOMBERG NEWS(R) service with more than 2,000 professionals in 130 bureaus worldwide; the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION(R) 24-hour business and financial network produced and distributed worldwide on eleven separate channels in seven languages; and BLOOMBERG RADIO(SM) services, which provide up-to-the-minute news on XM, Sirius and WorldSpace satellite radio around the world and on WBBR 1130AM in New York. In addition, Bloomberg publishes BLOOMBERG MARKETS(R) magazine and BLOOMBERG PRESS(R) books for investment professionals. For more information please visit http://www.bloomberg.com/.