Cox-SummitMedia deal price revealed

1


We knew that brand new radio group SummitMedia was buying 23 stations from Cox in five markets – and now we know how much the stations will cost.


The deal includes stations in Birmingham AL (2 AMs, 5 FMs), Greenville-Spartanburg SC (2 FMs), Honolulu HI (2 AMs, 4 FMs), Louisville KY (4 FMs), and Richmond VA (4 FMs).

The price will be $66.25M cash. Adding in the concurrent deal with Connoisseur for stations in Connecticut, in which Cox is making $40M, and the seller is enjoying a $106.25M payday in exchange for its sold radio properties.

Five individuals each own a 3.5% stake in SummitMedia. They are CEO Carl Parmer, COO David Dubose, Paul F. Bankston, William B. Tanner and Darryl Grondines.

HighPoint Summit LLC owns 82.25%. There are four principals in the company each with a 25% stake, including Jeffrey Austin Brooks, Russ Taylor, Patrick Sullivan and Jeffrey D. Brooks.

 

1 COMMENT

  1. I can see why Cox wants to spin off these properties for a quick final profit, as the golden goose known as radio has laid the last of its solid gold eggs, and has henceforth been roasted to golden-brown perfection in the whorehouse-hot oven known as conglomerate media ownership. The hapless bird is now on the banquet table, and Cox has obviously sold a lot of tickets to the final feast.

    But why? Why would anyone with a base-level [and in some cases, college-educated] intelligence above sun-dried amoebae want to cough up and aggregate nine figures’ worth of cash to invest in a media form about as relevant in the 21st Century as the rotary dial telephone?

    This’ll be big news for a while, until everyone realizes nothing will really change up and down the dial. Sales managers and program directors will be fired … new, overpriced consultants will be brought in … the same, magically safe 378 tunes will be rotated & played, over & over & over again [regardless of format] … and all this will be par for the course — until the properties are sold for back taxes a few years from now by Nadir Media Liquidators.

    This final bit of sad news will make the industry press —

    But no one will be listening.

Comments are closed.