UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE
14A
(Rule
14a-101)
Information
Required in Proxy Statement
Schedule
14a Information
Proxy
Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of The Securities Exchange Act of
1934
(Amendment
No. )
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the Registrant ¨
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¨ Preliminary
Proxy Statement
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for Use of the Commission Only (as permitted by Rule 14a-6(e)(2))
¨ Definitive
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ý Definitive
Additional Materials
¨ Soliciting
Material Under Rule 14a-12
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THE
GABELLI GLOBAL MULTIMEDIA TRUST, INC.
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(Name
of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
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WESTERN
INVESTMENT LLC
WESTERN
INVESTMENT HEDGED PARTNERS L.P.
WESTERN
INVESTMENT TOTAL RETURN PARTNERS L.P.
WESTERN
INVESTMENT TOTAL RETURN FUND LTD.
ARTHUR
D. LIPSON
JOSHUA
MASSEY
DAVID
MASSEY
GREGORY
R. DUBE
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(Name
of Persons(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if Other Than the
Registrant)
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Western
Investment LLC (“Western Investment”), together with the other participants
named herein, is filing materials contained in this Schedule 14A with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in connection with the
solicitation of proxies by Western Investment at the 2010 annual meeting of
shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of the Gabelli Global Multimedia Trust, Inc.
(the “Fund”). Western Investment has filed a definitive proxy
statement with the SEC with regard to the Annual Meeting.
Item
1: On May 19, 2010, Western Investment delivered the following letter
to shareholders of the Fund:
WESTERN
INVESTMENT LLC
May 18,
2010
Dear
Fellow Shareholder:
Western
Investment LLC is one of the largest shareholders in the Gabelli Global
Multimedia Fund (the “Fund” or “GGT”). We are the beneficial owner
of 980,632 shares with a current
value of almost $7.2 million, representing more than 7% of the Fund’s shares
outstanding. We are deeply concerned about our Fund’s direction under
the leadership of Mario Gabelli. That is why we are asking for you to
vote the GOLD Proxy to elect our two nominees to the Fund’s eight-member Board
of Directors and give shareholders two seats at the table.
Earlier
this year we approached Mr. Gabelli about taking action to reduce the excessive
discount to net asset value (NAV) at which the Fund has historically
traded. We should not have had to do this. A manager who
is concerned with his shareholders would have taken action without
prompting.
The
Fund’s NAV reflects the value of its portfolio of securities less any debt and
amounts due the preferred shareholders. The discount to NAV is the
gap between the market price of your stock and its NAV per
share. In a well-run fund, the market price and the NAV per
share should be very close. If it isn’t, management should see it as
a duty to take action to close the gap. This appears to be a foreign
concept for Mr. Gabelli not only with respect to GGT, but to other funds managed
by him. For example,
The Gabelli Dividend and Income Trust (NYSE: “GDV”) and The Gabelli Healthcare
and Wellness Trust (NYSE: “GRX”), both of which are managed by Mr. Gabelli, are
also currently trading at double digit discounts. While Mr.
Gabelli is formulating a plan to fix GGT, he might also spend some time thinking
about how to fix the problems with these two funds as well.
One
time-tested action is for the Fund to aggressively purchase discounted shares in
the open market, accommodating those holders who wish to sell and increasing
both the NAV and the earnings per share of the remaining shares. The
Fund, under Mr. Gabelli, despite being authorized since 2005 to repurchase up to
1.7 million shares, has only bought back on average less than 72,000 shares per
year. Hardly enough to make a difference; the discount has remained
unacceptable, at times as high as 30.6%.
Shareholders have not only suffered
from terrible investment management, they can liquidate their investment only if
they wish to sell their share of the Fund’s assets at a substantial discount to
their NAV! This is fundamentally unfair and management should
have taken real steps long ago to remedy it. Why haven’t
they? We believe that the reason for this failure is because when the
Fund buys back shares, while it increases shareholders’ NAV and gives them
liquidity, it also reduces the Fund’s total assets, which reduces the fees Mr.
Gabelli is allowed to receive for his (poor) management of the
Fund.
When we
voiced our concerns to Mr. Gabelli, his response was to have the Fund sue us
(possibly using your money to pay at least 6 different lawyers at 2 large
national law firms), seeking to sterilize our right to vote more than half of
our shares! In our view, the real purpose of the lawsuit was to try
to intimidate us from running a proxy contest for shareholder representation on
the Fund’s Board of Directors. Gabelli’s strategy was a miserable
failure in every respect: the lawsuit was dismissed; we were not intimidated;
and with your help (by voting the GOLD proxy card), shareholders will finally
have real representation on the Fund’s Board. However, the fact
remains that the reaction of the management of your publicly held Fund to the
suggestion of one of its largest investors that it take steps to improve the
market price of its shares, was to sue the investor – wasting money on a
frivolous lawsuit!
The
incumbent directors are not getting the job done for
shareholders. The Fund’s string of miserable performances handed in
by Gabelli Funds LLC and the shares’ discount issue will only be addressed if
shareholders get representation on the Fund’s Board of
Directors. That’s why we are asking you to vote the GOLD Proxy to
elect Western’s two experienced investor nominees to the Fund’s Board
at the upcoming 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Gregory R. Dube (Age 55) is
the founder of Roseheart Associates (“Roseheart”), a private company that
invests in securities and real estate, and has served as managing member and
Chairman since its inception in 1997. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Dube was
at Alliance Capital, as head of the Global High Yield Group from 1999 to
2002. Before joining Alliance Capital, Mr. Dube was a partner at
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Dube has an extensive
background in the credit securities markets, including experience with trading
and selling credit instruments, including corporate, high-yield, private
placement, mortgage, Euro and distressed debt and derivatives. Mr.
Dube’s extensive investment experience, background in the credit securities
markets and public board experience provides unique insight to challenges and
issues facing the Fund.
Arthur D. Lipson (Age 67) has
been managing private investment partnerships since 1995. He has been
the sole managing member of Western Investment, which specializes in investing
in undervalued companies. Mr. Lipson previously headed up fixed
income research for Lehman Brothers and for Paine Webber, was a known leader in
the industry, and created, among other things, the Lehman Brothers bond
indices. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Lipson served as a director of
Pioneer Municipal and Equity Income Trust (“PBF”), during which time Mr. Lipson
oversaw the elimination of a 17% discount to PBF’s net asset value and the
merger of PBF into Pioneer Tax Free Income Fund, an open-end
fund. Mr. Lipson’s extensive investment experience, particularly with
respect to closed-end funds, gives him strong insight into the challenges and
issues facing the Fund.
Shareholders
need representation on the GGT Board. Shareholders deserve a voice in
the GGT boardroom. The Board currently consists entirely of directors
who serve on the boards of, and are compensated by, other companies in the
Gabelli fund complex. They either sanctioned or sat idly by when Mr.
Gabelli wasted money on a frivolous lawsuit to try to prevent us from exercising
our democratic right to vote our Fund shares and to intimidate us from waging
this proxy contest. Vote to protect your investment. Vote
for truly independent representation in the GGT boardroom. Vote your
GOLD proxy today, by phone or internet, or by signing, dating and returning the
GOLD card. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Arthur D.
Lipson
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If
you have any questions or need assistance voting your Shares, please
call:
Innisfree
M&A Incorporated
501
Madison Avenue, 20th Floor
New
York, NY 10022
Stockholders
Call Toll-Free at: (888) 750-5834
Banks
and Brokers Call Collect at: (212) 750-5833
You
may also contact Western Investment LLC via email at
info@fixmyfund.com
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