The mortgage giant's government bailout threw more fuel on the Value Trust fire in the press. The Balitmore Sun's Hanah Cho reports that Legg Mason Capital Management owned almost 80 million shares of Freddie Mac common stock as of July 31 (12.4 percent, and 17.7 million of those were in the Legg Mason Value Trust on June 30), including 30 million shares that Bill Miller purchased this summer, before it plunged 80 percent from $652.6 million ($8.17 per share) on July 31 to a little over $70 million ($0.88 per share) Monday, in light of the just-unveiled federal rescue of Freddie, as well as Fannie Mae. Cho notes that it's possible that Legg no longer owned the same nearly 80 million shares by the time the bailout came out, and she also talks to Morningstar's Greg Carlson about possibly countervailing positive prospects for Miller and Legg Mason.

The new Freddie Mac-inspired worries about Miller and his Value Trust continue a trend that's come up throughout the summer (see MFWire, July 11, 2008). 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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