Cox tries a little tenderness

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The attempt to pull in all of the Class A common stock of Cox Radio will be given just a little bit more time – the tender offer will now expire at midnight eastern time on the first of May. Cox is offering $3.80 per share. However, the Cox Special Committee has withdrawn a recommendation to shareholders to accept the offer.


The committee offered three reasons:

“1. Cox Enterprises and Cox Media Group have announced an extension of the tender offer until 12:00 midnight New York City time on Friday, May 1, 2009 without increasing the offer price;

“2. The Board of Directors of Cox Radio adopted a resolution clarifying the Special Committee’s authority to negotiate all terms of the tender offer, including the offer price; and

“3. In the course of conversations among the Special Committee and a representative of Cox Enterprises, Cox Enterprises’ representative informed the Special Committee that Cox Media Group and Cox Enterprises were giving serious consideration to increasing the offer price to $4.20 per share and that the increased price may not be their best and final offer.”

The offer came under attack from Karen Finerman at CNBC recently – she suggested that Cox had been paying more to buy back its own stock since the beginning of the year, but said the company was taking advantage of shareholders by making the tender offer just as the stock was rebounding slightly from an historic low.