Standard General to acquire Tegna for $8.6 Billion

[mre29 1514]

17 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

If you don't hear anything today, you'll definitely hear something tomorrow.

 

I guess now would be a good time to acquire some earplugs.

[DirtyHarry 727]

7 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

If I remember from Sinclair-Tribune, Tribune announced the termination of that sale the day after the outside date (and of course filing that lawsuit). 

 

All that wasteful time trying to convince the FCC to change their minds and rescind that HDO, what Soo should have done was to go to the [incumbent] Tegna board and beg them not to sue him for all this waste of time.

 

If you don't hear anything today, you'll definitely hear something tomorrow.

 

 

 

I have no irons in this fire other than having Tegna in my market and not wanting to see that station fall into the hands of some third rate bankster-run broadcaster, but I literally dislike this Soo guy more and more, each time I see his picture. It's not because he's Asian, it's because he's a bankster and because of that smarmy look on his face.

Edited May 22, 2023 by DirtyHarry

[DGD1314 4]

Tegna (NYSE:TGNA) rose 5% in after hours trading after its planned $5.4 billion sale to Standard General was terminated after failing to win regulatory approval and it announced a $300 million share repurchases plan.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3974012-tegna-jumps-5-after-standard-general-deal-terminated-buyback-announced

[weather8822 17]

Ding dong, Soo Kim’s deal is dead. TEGNA just announced late this afternoon the merger is terminated.

[CircleSeven 1955]

From that press release:

Quote

TEGNA is entitled to receive a termination fee of $136 million from Standard General.

 

Beyond these actions, TEGNA’s Board of Directors and management team are also actively reviewing the return of additional excess capital that accumulated during the pending merger.

 

That $136M Standard General has to pay up won't be enough. I hope Tegna file suit to get every penny owed.

 

Shareholders better file their own suit too.

[mre29 1514]

8 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

From that press release:

 

That $136M Standard General has to pay up won't be enough. I hope Tegna file suit to get every penny owed.

 

Shareholders better file their own suit too.

 

CoxApollo should, as well.

 

[GoldenShine9 1512]

3 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

CoxApollo should, as well.

 

 

I smell them having to sell their stations off too, or Apollo having to let go of Cox.

43 minutes ago, weather8822 said:

Ding dong, Soo Kim’s deal is dead. TEGNA just announced late this afternoon the merger is terminated.

 

He needs to run away and not be seen again in the industry.

[mre29 1514]

Just now, GoldenShine9 said:

 

I smell them having to sell their stations off too, or Apollo having to let go of Cox.

 

At the very least, I can see Cox putting WFXT (which they were going to send to SG) up for sale.

 

[Nelson R. 569]

1 minute ago, mre29 said:

 

At the very least, I can see Cox putting WFXT (which they were going to send to SG) up for sale.

 

Cox was also getting WFAA from Tegna

[elfuego35 90]

1 hour ago, Nelson R. said:

Cox was also getting WFAA from Tegna

Not just WFAA, but KHOU and KVUE also.

But they are able to keep WFXT, and  made nearly a half of Billion by way of selling their dead weight stations (other than WHBQ and the Tulsa Duop) to Imagicomm.

Edited May 22, 2023 by elfuego35

[MidwestTV 1230]

Dave Lougee sent an email to employees today saying, among other things, that they were the ones who decided to not pursue it anymore, that the company will keep operating as it has been, and thanked employees for their patience over the past 18 months and for helping the company post record results in 2022. He said he'd share more information tomorrow.

 

Naturally, employees aren't going to see any of those record results or any hundreds of millions they'll get from the termination clause. It also means stations went through months and months of hiring freezes because of "the sale" and an "uncertain economy" for literally nothing.

[weather8822 17]

37 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

I smell them having to sell their stations off too, or Apollo having to let go of Cox.

 

He needs to run away and not be seen again in the industry.

Honestly I don’t think Soo Kim/Standard will ever be selected as the winning bidders of a station group again. Just like after the Sinclair-Tribune deal died in a similar fashion, Sinclair has not been able to buy any full power stations since because no one will sell to them. 
 

Prospective sellers don’t want to sell their stations to a group that has a poor track record of getting deals done. In the bidding process companies often look at everything especially: 

 

-Who offers the most

-Who is most likely to get the deal across the finish line

 

[DirtyHarry 727]

47 minutes ago, weather8822 said:

Honestly I don’t think Soo Kim/Standard will ever be selected as the winning bidders of a station group again. Just like after the Sinclair-Tribune deal died in a similar fashion, Sinclair has not been able to buy any full power stations since because no one will sell to them. 
 

Prospective sellers don’t want to sell their stations to a group that has a poor track record of getting deals done. In the bidding process companies often look at everything especially: 

 

-Who offers the most

-Who is most likely to get the deal across the finish line

 

 

I don't think Sinclair has been in the market to buy anything since they bought the sports networks. That may change now that the sports networks are off their plate. 

 

If it's a simple transaction, sellers aren't going to be skeptical of Sinclair. If Sinclair is going to pay the most money, that's who will get it. But I agree that a complicated deal that involves the kinds of legal contortions Sinclair has been famous for, is going to have skeptical sellers. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by DirtyHarry

[weather8822 17]

12 minutes ago, DirtyHarry said:

 

I don't think Sinclair has been in the market to buy anything since they bought the sports networks. That may change now that the sports networks are off their plate. 

 

If it's a simple transaction, sellers aren't going to be skeptical of Sinclair. If Sinclair is going to pay the most money, that's who we'll get it. But I agree that a complicated deal that involves the kinds of legal contortions Sinclair has been famous for, are going to have skeptical sellers. 

I’m not so sure. Even a simple transaction may draw the ire of the FCC after how Sinclair behaved during their Tribune acquisition attempt. Also, Sinclair is up against the national cap now (assuming that the current FCC will not be using the UHF discount anymore). 

[mre29 1514]

So, basically, Sinclair just got some company in the doghouse.

 

[DirtyHarry 727]

1 hour ago, weather8822 said:

I’m not so sure. Even a simple transaction may draw the ire of the FCC after how Sinclair behaved during their Tribune acquisition attempt. Also, Sinclair is up against the national cap now (assuming that the current FCC will not be using the UHF discount anymore). 

 

You guys make too much of this. The FCC has to follow the law as much as Sinclair did. They're not allowed to hold a grudge like people do. If Sinclair proposes a straight-up transaction that doesn't use a bunch of shell companies to get around the cap, they should be able to get a purchase through. In the Tribune purchase, Sinclair was doing all kinds of crazy things and FCC wasn't willing to let them go that far with the law. But as you can see with the latest purchased by Mission, the FCC isn't going to stop people from using sidecars. Assuming it gets approved, of course.

Edited May 23, 2023 by DirtyHarry

[Megatron81 256]

I hope TEGNA makes Soo Kim sell his shares trying the hostel takeover and merger with Standard General I'm hoping TEGNA sues Standard General & Soo Kim for breach of contact.

[Rusty Muck 4366]

There’s a very good chance that Tegna stands pat. Standard General was the only party really driving a sale (yes, Byron tried to crash the party but the odds were stacked up against him).

 

The L taken by Standard General is such that they may have to sell off their measly four stations to Tegna.

[CubsFan79 58]

Sinclair lost CBS affiliation to KVEO TV and eventually KGBT. It remains to be seen if Sinclair sells some of its TV stations.

[Rusty Muck 4366]

42 minutes ago, CubsFan79 said:

Sinclair lost CBS affiliation to KVEO TV and eventually KGBT. It remains to be seen if Sinclair sells some of its TV stations.

The KGBT-KVEO swap and sale happened as a settlement from Tribune’s breach of contract lawsuit against Sinclair after their failed merger, Nexstar was the beneficiary.

[Adam MadMan 285]

And here comes the defense squad (a little too late, aren't we?).

[MidwestTV 1230]

In his second message to the company today, Dave Lougee criticized the FCC for not acting on a vote. However, he also said that the decision to sell off WFAA, KVUE, and KHOU was not the original Tegna board's idea and implied they didn't want to lose those stations. He also said that Tegna is not for sale and has no plans to put itself up for sale, but if someone came along asking to buy they would listen.

 

The most interesting thing: starting in July, all regular hourly employees will start making $20/hr, meaning the company minimum wage will be $20/hr. Not certain, but that might make them the highest paying hourly wage in the business. Nexstar is $15 and Gray is $18.

[RaleighTVBOI1 81]

I’m just glad everything is back to normal for now, btw I think the NAACP was backing Soo Kim always disregard them. Standard should just turn over those stations to Tegna. If they didn’t wanna be bought than why did they ask?

2 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

He also said that Tegna is not for sale and has no plans to put itself up for sale, but if someone came along asking to buy they would listen.

Now I’m wondering why they put themselves in this mess anyways. 

On 5/22/2023 at 7:37 PM, weather8822 said:

I’m not so sure. Even a simple transaction may draw the ire of the FCC after how Sinclair behaved during their Tribune acquisition attempt. Also, Sinclair is up against the national cap now (assuming that the current FCC will not be using the UHF discount anymore). 

So options are limited, I mean Byron could buy all of Tegna with very minor conflicts.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

17 minutes ago, RaleighTVBOI1 said:

So options are limited, I mean Byron could buy all of Tegna with very minor conflicts.

 

I second that.

[TennTV1983 802]

6 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

He also said that Tegna is not for sale and has no plans to put itself up for sale, but if someone came along asking to buy they would listen.

 

4 hours ago, RaleighTVBOI1 said:

Now I’m wondering why they put themselves in this mess anyways.

 

All roads lead back to Soo Kim and his failed attempt to get on TEGNA's board via proxy a few years ago. He never went away.