Wall Street expects revenues for Q1 to be down 5%. There will be no conference call because of the long-pending buyout – and now the multiple lawsuits over the long-pending buyout. The big pressure on six banks to carry through on their commitments to fund the $26.7 billion buyout is in Texas, where Clear Channel’s lawsuit seeking over $26 billion is set to begin next month. But trial could begin even sooner in New York, where a judge has decided that the two private equity firms who are heading up the buyout have a case to be heard on a breach of contract claim against the banks. The precedent for that, interestingly, is a 1974 New York case where a lender tried to get out of financing a home purchase – presumably for a bit less than 20-some billion. She threw out some other claims against the banks, but also refused to limit their liability to Clear Channel, since she ruled that lies with the Texas court.
