Owners of 91% of Broadcasting company Rustavi 2 shares, Levan and Gia Karamanishivli spread the counter-statement in response to the staff`s initiative and expressed their readiness to transfer to the staff of Rustavi 2, the controlling package which is 51% shares of TV Sakartvelo which is owner of 51% of Rustavi2 shares.

Text of the statement:

"We would like to respond to Gvaramia`s briefing, which took place yesterday in response to our yesterday`s offer. We remind the public that our initiative was to transfer to the whole staff of Rustavi 2 television station our shares for free . We were surprised that in response to this kind of offer we have received an ultimatum demanding not the d proposed 40%, but the station"s controlling stake, as it seems to only one part of the staff. Our yesterday"s initiative is not a fiction, as it was announced, but the real way to ensure that all employees take a well-deserved financial benefits as soon as the company becomes profitable, the prerequisite for which are real as soon as Ivanishvili stops the prosecution of the TV.

"It is unclear what the Director-General meant , when he said that our offer "practically did not change the situation. "What changes are you talking about? We have never interfered with editorial policy, which was always defined by the management and journalists. This will happen in future as well.

"We do not want to bother the public and our staff with legal nuances. If we are talking about the reliability of our initiative, in order to eliminate , unfounded suspicions, we confirm that we are ready,to habd over to the staff 51% of the company" TV Sakartvelo", which in turn is the the owner of 51% of shares of Rustavi2. This means that the station`s management will pass over completely in the hands of the staff . Thus , we offer to stop the public discussion of this topic and start the consultations t in the business mode, as it was proposed in our first statement so that the shares are distributed fairly and openly to the team members."