Entertainment Studios boss Byron Allen is seriously interested in buying Tribune Media, The New York Post reports.
Allen shelled out $300 million for the Weather Channel in April, and he’ll be up against three other bidders for Tribune. It’s the company’s second go-round on the auction block.
The FCC blocked Tribune’s sale to Sinclair Broadcasting three months ago in what was to be a $3.9 billion deal. The market cap for Tribune, which includes New York-based WPIX-TV and Chicago’s WGN, is at $3.4 billion.
Tom Hicks Jr., the head of private equity firm Hicks Equity Partners, and head of America First, a super PAC connected with President Trump, has submitted a joint bid for Tribune with Cerberus Capital. The Post reports that Allen’s rival bid has backing from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
Also vying for Tribune Media is Nexstar Media Group and Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management. Second-round bids are expected by mid-December.
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The new news comes after earlier this week Entertainment Studios theatrical distribution head Mark Borde said he was leaving the company; he sold his distribution company Freestyle to Allen three years ago. That said, Entertainment Studios has no plans of abandoning its theatrical release plans moving forward. They have the Keanu Reeves sci-fi movie Replicas opening on January 11, and they are pushing the Jamie Lee Curtis- and Jake Gyllenhaal-produced documentary Hondros and the Ted Kennedy thriller Chappaquiddick for awards season.
