Glass Lewis Recommends Steak N Shake Stockholders Vote the Gold Proxy Card to
Elect Sardar Biglari and Phil Cooley to the Board
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sardar Biglari,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Western Sizzlin Corporation
(Nasdaq: WEST) and The Lion Fund, LP, announced today that Glass Lewis & Co.,
a leading proxy advisory firm, has recommended that stockholders of The Steak
n Shake Company (NYSE: SNS) vote the GOLD proxy card to elect Sardar Biglari
and Philip L. Cooley to the Steak n Shake Board at the annual meeting of
stockholders scheduled to take place on March 7, 2008.
The Glass Lewis report highlights the key problems with Steak n Shake's
present leadership: "In this case, we believe that the Steak n Shake directors
have two strikes against them. Considering the long term operational troubles
and relative performance of the Company's shares, we believe it is the board's
responsibility to hold executives accountable for their results. Clearly,
this has not happened."
Commenting on the lack of accountability and entrenchment strategies
employed by Steak n Shake's board, Glass Lewis continued, "[I]n our opinion,
the current board has done little to hold executives accountable for the long-
term performance of the business. Moreover, the directors have taken recent
action to entrench themselves on the board. As such, we believe that new
independent voices are needed on the Steak n Shake board to effect change."
Glass Lewis also took the opportunity to address the recent action taken
by the board's newly sprung amendment to Steak n Shake's bylaws requiring 80%,
instead of the former 25%, of the shares outstanding to call a special
meeting. In its report, Glass Lewis stated that, "the directors' reactionary
bylaw amendment is deeply troubling. In our opinion, this is an example of
director entrenchment at its worst. The directors clearly fear for their
jobs."
Sardar Biglari, in response to the report, stated, "We were very pleased
with Glass Lewis' endorsement of Phil Cooley and me for election to the board
and their favorable assessment of our plan. We are gratified that Glass Lewis
shares our negative view that the current board has undertaken actions that
are clearly contrary to the best interests of the shareholders."
SOURCE Western Sizzlin Corporation
Morrow & Co., LLC, +1-203-658-9400, or Robyn B. Mabe, Chief Financial Officer
of Western Sizzlin Corporation, +1-540-345-3195
