Martha Stewart Living Settles

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO), a New York-based media company, has announced the preliminary settlement of the securities class action pending against the company in the S.D.N.Y. The case was originally filed in 2002 and alleges that founder Martha Stewart and other company officers made false and misleading statements about Stewart’s sale of ImClone shares in December 2001, which resulted in an inflated stock price. (The 10b-5 Daily has commented on this case in a series of posts entitled “The Martha Stewart Watch.”) The proposed settlement is for $30 million, of which $15 million will be paid by the company, $10 million will be paid by the company’s insurers, and $5 million will be paid by Stewart herself.