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NY Post

Big Media Merger Appears to Be Dead

Oct 7, 2015  •  Post A Comment

Just days after an unsolicited bid surfaced that threatened to upend the acquisition of station owner Meredith Corp. by Media General, the Media General-Meredith deal appears to be dead.

The New York Post cites two unnamed sources close to the deal saying the $2.4 billion acquisition is dead. The news comes less than two weeks after Nexstar Broadcasting Group made an unsolicited bid to acquire Media General for $1.85 billion.

We reported last week that the Nexstar bid appeared to put the Media General-Meredith merger in jeopardy. Now the Post is reporting that the Meredith deal does not have enough support among key Media General shareholders.

“The shareholder revolt comes days after the company announced on Sept. 28 that rival Nexstar Broadcasting had made an unsolicited $14.50-per-share stock and cash proposal to buy Media General,” the Post reports. “On Tuesday, nypost.com broke the news that 7 percent shareholder Oppenheimer opposed the Meredith deal. Earlier, activist Starboard Capital, a 4.5 percent shareholder, went public saying that it was against the acquisition.”

The report notes that Meredith has been “left at the altar” before, with Time Inc. pulling the plug on an attempted deal to merge its publishing assets with those of Meredith in 2013.

The Post cites an unnamed analyst saying a new suitor, possibly Hearst Corp., is likely to emerge in the coming months with an offer for Meredith.

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