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Standard General to acquire Tegna for $8.6 Billion


dman748

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Bloomberg is now reporting that Standard/Apollo are nearly a deal to buy Tegna for $24-a-share

 

What's interesting is that what's included is that the shares will increase if the regulatory approval takes a long (and I mean a long) time to approve (which is a possibility).

 

A deal could be announced as soon as later this morning.

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2 hours ago, dman748 said:

Bloomberg is now reporting that Standard/Apollo are nearly a deal to buy Tegna for $24-a-share

 

What's interesting is that what's included is that the shares will increase if the regulatory approval takes a long (and I mean a long) time to approve (which is a possibility).

 

A deal could be announced as soon as later this morning.

 

And then let the gutting begin.

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3 hours ago, dman748 said:

Bloomberg is now reporting that Standard/Apollo are nearly a deal to buy Tegna for $24-a-share

 

What's interesting is that what's included is that the shares will increase if the regulatory approval takes a long (and I mean a long) time to approve (which is a possibility).

 

A deal could be announced as soon as later this morning.

WHOA. Didn't see Standard in the mix. Looks like Kim always get his man (or company). It's gonna be interesting to see how two hedge funds run these stations...

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2 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

WHOA. Didn't see Standard in the mix. Looks like Kim always get his man (or company). It's gonna be interesting to see how two hedge funds run these stations...

 

Where have you been? Standard had been the front runner for months.

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1 hour ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

I'm surprised there wasn't more in addition to this. There are still conflicts in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Seattle, and others. 

 

There aren't conflicts as Cox Media Group and Standard Media Group are not merging into one company. Yes, it is a bit muddy consider that Apollo will be a banker for each (a non-voting, non-controlling part in the case of Standard General which is the private equity firm that owns Standard Media Group). Since technically CMG and SMG are two separate broadcasting companies there's no need to spin anything off at this time. So in Atlanta CMG will continue to own WSB while Standard will own WXIA/WATL.  

 

Interestingly enough there are some swaps in this deal. They don't seem to be included to jump over regulatory hurdles so I find them curious. 

  • Cox Media Group acquires Tegna's major market stations in Texas
  • Standard Media Group acquires WFXT Boston
  • CMG acquires current SMG stations WLNE Providence, KLKN Lincoln, KBSI Cape Girardeau, and WDKA Paducah 

And at least one division will be spun off. Premion, Tegna's OTT sales arm, will become a stand-alone company. 

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9 minutes ago, carolinanews4 said:

 

There aren't conflicts as Cox Media Group and Standard Media Group are not merging into one company. Yes, it is a bit muddy consider that Apollo will be a banker for each (a non-voting, non-controlling part in the case of Standard General which is the private equity firm that owns Standard Media Group). Since technically CMG and SMG are two separate broadcasting companies there's no need to spin anything off at this time. So in Atlanta CMG will continue to own WSB while Standard will own WXIA/WATL.  

 

Interestingly enough there are some swaps in this deal. They don't seem to be included to jump over regulatory hurdles so I find them curious. 

  • Cox Media Group acquires Tegna's major market stations in Texas
  • Standard Media Group acquires WFXT Boston
  • CMG acquires current SMG stations WLNE Providence, KLKN Lincoln, KBSI Cape Girardeau, and WDKA Paducah 

And at least one division will be spun off. Premion, Tegna's OTT sales arm, will become a stand-alone company. 

Permian evidently will be a JV owned by both companies.

 

Interesting that current Standard Media stations like WLNE will go to Cox.  I would have thought that if SM is acquiring WFXT, then there could be efficiencies in some operations between them and WLNE being in adjacent markets 45 miles apart.

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The marketplace has clearly collapsed when two private equity vultures are attempting to pick apart a company too big to fail like this. It's an atrocious deal that'll set back local news in a time when they can't afford to.

 

Soo Kim and Apollo are buying Tegna merely to gut it, starve it, then break it up.

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This whole thing looks like something that will not stand up.

 

First, there is no way they will be allowed to control 2 top-4 stations in several markets - nor control both Cox and TEGNA. I think some of the stations in markets that both companies are in will have to be sold to other companies like Scripps or Gray.

 

It also appears it will still be called TEGNA after the deal is complete though.

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35 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

The marketplace has clearly collapsed when two private equity vultures are attempting to pick apart a company too big to fail like this. It's an atrocious deal that'll set back local news in a time when they can't afford to.

 

Soo Kim and Apollo are buying Tegna merely to gut it, starve it, then break it up.

 

In Atlanta, I'm sure there are a lot of happy faces at Fox 5.

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Just now, mre29 said:

Okay, I'm confused. Soo Kim and Standard General aren't Apollo, right? But Apollo's still involved?

 

And what's the point in WFAA, KVUE, and KHOU going to Cox?

 

 

Standard General can't afford to buy Tegna on their own, so Apollo is allegedly a silent partner with no voting stock (*SNERK*). These station trades are proof of this; Apollo and Standard are simply picking the company apart just to buy it.

 

Nevermind that Byron Allen offered significantly more for Tegna and was rejected. 🤔

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3 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Standard General can't afford to buy Tegna on their own, so Apollo is allegedly a silent partner with no voting stock (*SNERK*). These station trades are proof of this; Apollo and Standard are simply picking the company apart just to buy it.

 

Nevermind that Byron Allen offered significantly more for Tegna and was rejected. 🤔

 

Well, let's hope the FCC at least requires divestitures in markets where both Cox and Tegna have stations.

 

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Just now, mre29 said:

 

Well, let's hope the FCC at least requires divestitures in markets where both Cox and Tegna have stations.

 

The DOJ and FCC should be rejecting this deal outright. It's an atrociously structured deal that benefits no one but the stockholders at Apollo and Standard General. It will cripple local news in a way we haven't seen in a long time.

 

It's also the logical end result of the M&A mania of the past few years, where there's no one left to buy stations but private equity vultures. (BTW, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates today, so this was filed right at the deadline.)

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15 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

The DOJ and FCC should be rejecting this deal outright. It's an atrociously structured deal that benefits no one but the stockholders at Apollo and Standard General. It will cripple local news in a way we haven't seen in a long time.

 

Well, yes. But if the FCC does approve it, it should be with a requirement to divest stations in (going off the top of my head) Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis, and Seattle.

 

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2 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

Well, yes. But if the FCC does approve it, it should be with a requirement to divest stations in (going off the top of my head) Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis, and Seattle.

 

 

26 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

Well, let's hope the FCC at least requires divestitures in markets where both Cox and Tegna have stations.

 

So far it appears the Tegna stations not going to Cox are going to go to Standard General.

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1 minute ago, Nelson R. said:

 

So far it appears the Tegna stations not going to Cox are going to go to Standard General.

The claim made in this filing is that both companies are going to be independent of each other and that Apollo's stake in Tegna is not of importance because they'll not be holding any voting stock.

 

I don't believe it for a second.

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