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RBR observation:
ABC won't be a record-breaker

If Disney CEO Bob Iger does decide (perhaps this week) to divest ABC Radio, the deal won't come close to being the top radio deal of all time - - or even in the top three. The question is, will it do much better than break the top 10? Based on our recent analysis of the potential price tag (11/16/05 RBR #225), if ABC Radio brings no more than the dismal 13 times cash flow multiple of the Susquehanna Radio sale, the price tag would only be a bit over 3.3 billion bucks. That would rank it #9 in our list of the all time biggest radio deals, just behind Univision's 3.5 billion bucks acquisition of HBC three years ago. Could you have imagined three years ago ever being able to buy ABC Radio for less than four billion? How times have changed.

Here's RBR's tracking of the billion dollar list of the deals to beat and a peek back to 1997 with 1.075B Viacom Radio to Chancellor Media:

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Billion dollar radio list

Billion-dollar-plus deals in radio

$23.500B AMFM Inc. merged into Clear Channel (1999)

$14.945B Radio station value (Infinity) of $34.45B merger of CBS Corp. into Viacom (1999)

$10.640B Radio station value of $15.2B stock-swap of Viacom Class B stock for the 32% of Infinity that Viacom didn't already own (2000)

$4.340B Radio station value of $4.9B merger of Infinity Broadcasting into Westinghouse/CBS (1996)

$4.300B Spin-offs (110 stns.) from merger of AMFM Inc. into Clear Channel (2000)

$4.200B Radio value of $4.4B Jacor merger with Clear Channel (1998)

$4.100B Capstar merged into Chancellor Media (1998)

$3.500B Hispanic Broadcasting merged into Univision (2002)

$2.600B American Radio Systems to Westinghouse/CBS (1997)

$2.100B SFX Broadcasting to Capstar Broadcasting Partners (1997)

$2.000B Citadel Communications to Forstmann Little & Co. (2001)

$1.403B AMFM/Clear Channel spin-offs (18 stns.) to Infinity (2000)

$1.300B Chancellor Broadcasting merged into Evergreen Media, creating Chancellor Media (1997)

$1.300B AMFM/Clear Channel spin-offs (12 stns.) to Radio One (2000)

$1.200B Susquehanna Radio to Cumulus Media Partners (2005)

$1.075B Viacom Radio to Chancellor Media (1997)

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