Newly named WorldCom CEO has sold $90 million in stock

NEW YORK - John Sidgmore, the newly appointed chief executive of WorldCom Inc., has sold at least $90 million in the company&#39;s stock since he became vice chairman of the board in 1996, according to filings.<br> <br> Sidgmore had about 2.3 million WorldCom Group shares as of April 5, according to the company&#39;s proxy statement. He also had 91,648 shares of MCI Group, the stock that tracks the company&#39;s consumer long-distance business.<br> <br> He told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday morning he sold about a third of the stake he received upon joining WorldCom. He has also sold shares acquired through stock options. Sidgmore was chief executive of UUNet, formerly a unit of MFS, which was acquired by WorldCom.<br> <br> His largest payout came on June 4, 1999, when he exercised options to buy 400,000 shares at $26 apiece, then sold them at $88.39 apiece, for a net gain of about $25 million.<br> <br> His last major sale was 24,503 shares for $441,054 last May, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In all, Sidgmore has sold just under 1.7 million WorldCom shares, according to filings.<br> <br> As of April 5, Sidgmore also had options to purchase another 3.25 million shares, according to the proxy statement.<br> <br> WorldCom&#39;s stock has plummeted since it reached a split-adjusted high of about $65 a share in the middle of 1999. Shares ended Tuesday&#39;s session at $2.48, down 86 percent in the past year.<br> <br> Sidgmore, 51, replaced former chief executive Bernard Ebbers, who resigned Monday amid controversy surrounding a massive personal loan from the company and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the loan and the company&#39;s accounting. <br> <br>

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