Liberty Media Affiliate Seeks to Increase Stake in iHeartMedia
December 12 2019 - 4:55PM
Dow Jones News
By Anne Steele, Brent Kendall and Cara Lombardo
An affiliate of John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. is seeking
Justice Department permission to buy a larger piece of iHeartMedia
Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that
would put the nation's largest radio broadcaster under the same
corporate umbrella as the leading concert promoter and
satellite-radio giant SiriusXM.
Liberty owns a 4.8% stake in iHeart through Liberty SiriusXM
Group; the deal now under consideration could give it control or
outright ownership of the broadcaster, according to people familiar
with the matter.
The government is considering the request, the people said, with
one of them cautioning that Liberty hasn't decided what kind of
transaction it would proceed with, if any, should it receive
permission.
Liberty acquired its iHeart stake via debt it took on before the
company restructured, which converted to equity when the
broadcaster emerged from bankruptcy early this year.
Liberty owns 33% of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., making it
the concert giant's largest shareholder, and 71% of satellite-radio
company Sirius XM Holdings Inc. A deal for iHeart would increase
its ability to collaborate among those businesses, potentially
creating a bulwark against the rising influence of music-streaming
companies.
Last year, Liberty orchestrated Sirius's purchase of
internet-radio company Pandora Media Inc. -- in which it also held
a controlling stake -- for $3 billion, another move intended to
compete more effectively against Spotify Technology SA and other
on-demand music-streaming services.
(More to come)
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com, Brent Kendall at
brent.kendall@wsj.com and Cara Lombardo at
cara.lombardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2019 16:40 ET (21:40 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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