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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSteak n Shake Co. CEO Sardar Biglari revealed in regulatory filings this week that he spent $1.1 million buying shares
in the locally based burger chain, an apparent vote of confidence in his own turnaround plans.
Biglari, a 31-year-old
Texas hedge fund manager who gained control of the chain after a proxy fight last year, picked up more than 107,000 shares
from Aug. 19 to Aug. 21. He now controls more than 9 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, which this morning traded
at about $10.75 apiece.
The company earlier this month said it plans to acquire the 110-unit Western Sizzlin
restaurant chain, another outfit Biglari runs, for $23 million. His Lion Fund controls 33 percent of Western Sizzlin shares.
When Biglari first bought shares in Steak n Shake, he agitated for tighter cost controls and a move to franchising
rather than owning restaurants. And he scolded the management for its failure to communicate with shareholders.
Biglari
has been secretive about his own plans, not yet offering an explanation for the Western Sizzlin deal. He doesn’t hold conference
calls with Wall Street analysts or return phone calls from reporters.
In June, he took a more-than-$600,000 raise
and now earns a cash-only salary of $900,000. Previous CEOs at the chain earned compensation more closely tied to the chain’s
share-price performance.
In an apparently unrelated move, Steak n Shake Chief Operating Officer Omar Janjua this
week announced his resignation effective Sept. 5.
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