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Sam Zell, considering a sale of Newsday, is structuring such a sale so that it could potentially save him hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains taxes, according to the newspaper.
A non-cash asset swap is a possibility with suitors including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (owner of the New York Post) and Mort Zuckerman (owner of the New York Daily News).
According to the article, Zell could swap private Newsday stock for the buyer’s stock and then leverage this new, more liquid stock for cash, say tax and media analysts. The deal, which would give Tribune Co. a much-needed infusion of capital, could be structured as a prepaid forward sale that’s not recognized until the capital gains tax period is over in 10 years.
Such forward sales help companies reinvest themselves, which is why the government allows them.
A swap would likely be harder for Zuckerman to pull off than Murdoch. Murdoch has more media holdings and public stock to trade, while most of Zuckerman’s holdings are in real estate investment trust.
Murdoch recently voiced concern that he would not be allowed by federal regulators to purchase Newsday because of possible antitrust issues, but the precarious financial situation of newspapers may make antitrust issues moot, say legal and media experts. Concerns of survival are perhaps more paramount than the aged laws originally meant to prevent monopolies and protect choices for consumers, Newsday writes.
Katz Media Group has added another new client, Lincoln Financial Media, and will sell ad time on the company’s 15 stations beginning immediately.
Katz also added CBS Radio and Entercom last week, picking them off from Interep’s list.
Katz has also…
Last week, Aegis Group CEO Robert Lerwill resigned unexpectedly, sparking speculation that a takeover may be on the horizon.
Lerwill stepped down officially today (Monday), with Aegis chairman John Napier taking over his duties on an interim basis, writes MediaPost. People…
Out-of-home companies are bracing for the recession like everyone else, but they may not feel the sting as badly as other media.
Though the third quarter brought negative growth to the nation’s three largest OOH companies - Clear Channel Outdoor,…
The 82nd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade pulled an average 12.6 rating/26 share on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 27, according to Nielsen.
That was 8% higher than its telecast last year, Mediaweek writes. NBC estimated that a total 44.7 million viewers…
Time magazine ousted Cosmo as the top magazine for college students in this year’s Anderson Analytics fall survey.
Time also jumped past People, which was last year’s No. 2, writes Ad Age. A Time spokesperson said the magazine did not run…
Email, news gathering and paying bills continue to be the most widely used online activities among U.S. adults, but downloading TV programs, watching videos and making web phone calls posted the biggest overall growth, according to data from Mediamark Research…
