Sumner Redstone, the billionaire chairman of both Viacom and CBS, sold his controlling stake in video game publisher Midway Games, Inc. to a private investor, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier today.

Redstone sold his 87 percent stake in Midway to investor Mark Thomas for about $100,000, which puts the price per share at an abysmal $0.0012. Considering that, as of Monday, the company is valued at $0.32 per share, that may seem like a tremendous loss for the media giant.

However, since the deal also stipulates that Thomas will assume $70 million worth of debt tied to Midway, the deal appears to be part of an effort to ease Redstone’s lingering debt problems. Considering that Redstone’s holdings company, National Amusements, still owes around $1.6 billion, one can reasonably expect that Redstone will continue to scrounge under the couch cushions for more companies to sell by the end of the year.

For its part, Midway has also been in the news a great deal lately for its persistent financial woes. Most recently and perhaps most relevantly, the NYSE threatened to delist the ailing publisher for its stock value dropping below $1 per share.

With the shares now listed not only below one dollar on the stock exchange, but below one cent in Redstone’s eyes, things look less than ideal for the company, and it seems as though the recent release of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe has done little to help the situation.

It remains to be seen what effect, if any, these events will have on the release of Midway’s upcoming Wheelman.