Clear Channel agrees to $18.7B buyout

[TechBear_Seattle]

One of the leading purveyors of government propaganda is going private. People angry at the unbalanced "news" provided by Clear Channel stations will no longer be able to buy their way into shareholder meetings to voice complaints.

Clear Channel agrees to $18.7B buyout

SAN ANTONIO - Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's biggest radio station owner, said Thursday it has agreed to be taken private for about $18.7 billion by an investment group.

Clear Channel said the deal calls for a group led by the investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC to pay $37.60 in cash for each share of Clear Channel common stock. That is a 10.2 percent premium over its closing price on Wednesday.

The article continues at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_bi_ge/clear_channel_buyout

Does anyone have info on the political connections of these investment firms?

[rox63]

1. Bain Capital = Mitt Romney's company n/t

[FernBell]

2. And the crooks get richer........*SIGH*

[SmokingJacket]

3. Like Carlyle, one of the companies trying to own the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bain_Capital

I find the consolidation of pretty much everything into two or three mega-investment groups rather unnerving.

[Vorta]

4. This is from Wiki- if true, it's all I need to know

Bain Capital LLC is a Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by Mitt Romney, the current Governor of Massachusetts, and two other partners from Bain & Company, the consulting firm: T. Coleman Andrews and Eric Kriss. Bain Capital was originally conceived as a combined equity start-up and leveraged buyout fund, an innovative strategy at the time.
History

The original $37 million fund was raised entirely from private individuals in mid-1984, led by Ricardo Poma, the El Salvadoran billionaire.

<<<<Strange bedfellows>>>>>

[StClone]

7. FOX's new accomplice

Mitt!!!!??? This SOB will run in '08...this better be well known by all!

Ricardo Poma, the El Salvadoran billionaire, how does one get to be a billionaire in a poor country? The old fashioned way I guess you steal it from there and around the world.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

5. Oh, good! More media consolidation!

That's always good for EVERYBODY!

:eyes:

[mod mom]

6. Our AAR (plus Stephanie Miller) is on Clear Channel, wonder if this will effect

it?

[TayTay]

8. Look again at this

Thomas H. Lee is a huge contributor to Democratic causes and candidates.

I believe Thomas H. Lee, the founder has given more than 1/2 a million to the Dems in the last few cycles alone.

Bain Capital is split. They give to everyone and cover their bases.

This is not what it seems on the top. If Thomas H. Lee is the prime bidder, then this is a huge gain for the Dems. Go look this up on

www.hoovers.com (find the company officers)

Look up the individual contributors on opensecrets.org or www.fec.gov

You might be very surprised at the results.

(Ahm, I know this because Thomas H. Lee has been a big Dem supporters and was part of a group of 200 Businesspeople who came out with big bucks for KErry/Edwards in 2004.)

[SharonRB]

12. I thought I had read that the other day

I'm glad Lee's group was successful. I'm not so sure about Bain.

Our local AAR affiliate is a Clear Channel station. I wonder what this will do for them. Sounds like it may be okay.

[jwirr]

9. I think the best way to fight this when the new congress gets in is

to deal with the issue of monopolies. There is nothing that the people of America hates more than the idea of a monopoly controlling their lives.

[LeftHander]

10. They will regret that investment, Radio is sinking ship.....

If they think they can use all those radio stations to influence this nation they have thoguht wrong.

The best they can do is sart selling off stations to independant ownership.

Radio in general has suffered under Clear Channel and demographic marketing strategies.

No one I know listens to commercial radio much anymore. The clear channel stock holders saw an opportunity to dump a dead fish before it starts to stink.

Radio no longer inluences the younger set. Kids have iPods and discover music to buy by word of mouth and what they hear on the internet and pass to one another. Radio does not drive the hit song as it once did.

[Sequoia]

11. When I first read about their plan for this around a month ago

My very first thought was....The Dems are going to win this election. Clear Channel supported Bush all this war crap so when this was announced I thought they knew something the rest of us (as usual) didn't know. Then I quickly shoved that thought under my tin foil hat and went about my business.