No worry about the banks showing up at the closing table today. Their $17.9 billion is already in escrow, so the money will be there whether the bankers are or not. So, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the $23.8 billion deal to take Clear Channel private – or rather, semi-private – will go to closing today. We say semi-private, because shares of the new owner, CC Media Holdings, will be traded in the over the counter market on the so-called pink sheets.
How long has this taken? The initial deal to sell Clear Channel to a group led by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners was announced shortly after the November 2006 election. Now the 2008 election is in full swing and the deal is finally going to closing.
For a nostalgic look at what all has happened over those 20 months, we traced the timeline earlier this month.
Since then, shareholders approved the sale for $36 per share and determined the final ownership of CC Media Holdings.
RBR/TVBR observation: What now? The biggest company in radio gets new owners at a time when ad revenues are taking an unprecedented dive. June was off 9% and no one we know of is predicting a rosy second half of the year. Does the industry giant have any plan to build its own ad sales and lead radio into the future?
