After five months in prison, Martha Stewart is wasting little time getting back to work.
After a weekend spent at her 153-acre suburban estate, Stewart is expected to head straight to work at her Manhatten office. She planned to meet with her employees at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.
Investors, confident upon Stewart’s release, have brought her company’s stock up three times the level it was at when Stewart was jailed last year.
“My heart is filled with joy at the prospect of the warm embraces of my family, friends and colleagues. Certainly, there is no place like home,” she said on her Web site.
Stewart, 63, will have to make some adjustments in her new working life. She will be working with a new chief executive and president, Susan Lyne.
Last week, the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $7.3 million, compared with a profit of $2.4 million for the same period a year earlier reflecting a decline in magazine advertising and the hiatus of Stewart’s television show.
Under the conditions of her five-month home detention, Stewart is allowed 48 hours a week to work outside the home, and she will be commuting the 40 miles to her office from her home in Westchester County. She also will be required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
Stewart is also scheduled to appear in court on March 17 in an appeal of her house arrest.
Stewart is slated to star in two new television shows: a revival of her daily homemaking show and her version of NBC’s “The Apprentice” hosted by development billionaire Donald Trump.
Credit: Yahoo/AP
