BREAKING NEWS! Tegna Announces Sale

FTVLive told you it was going to happen and it has….

Tegna has announced that they are selling the company to they have agreed to sell the company to Standard General for just under $5.5 billion dollars.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Standard General, which follows a thorough review of acquisition proposals received by the company. After evaluating this opportunity against Tegna’s standalone prospects and other strategic alternatives, our board concluded that this transaction maximizes value for Tegna shareholders,” said Tegna COB Howard Elias.

Standard General is the company that is headed up by Soo Kim, who in the past has tried to get seats on the Tegna board.

Tegna CEO Dave Lougee would communicate with shareholders that Kim was not good for Tegna and yet now they are selling the company to him.

Interesting how $5 billion dollars can change a person’s view.

Kim had this to say about the deal. “As long-term investors in the television broadcasting industry, we have a deep admiration for Tegna and the stations it operates and, in particular, for Tegna’s talented employees and their commitment to serving their communities. We are excited to partner again with Deb McDermott, who previously spearheaded the broadcast group at Media General, where Standard General was a principal shareholder. We believe Tegna has a strong foundation and exciting prospects for continued growth as a result of the stewardship of the board and the current management team. We look forward to building on the company’s strong foundation and leveraging Deb’s deep industry experience to drive further growth.”

Of course, this deal will have to pass through FCC approval before it is officially done.

Update: after the close of the deal, Standard General is expected to spin off KVUE (Austin), WFAA (Dallas), and KHOU (Houston) to Cox Media Group, which is now run by Apollo.

FTVLive FIRST told you that Standard General and Apollo were teaming up on the deal to buy Tegna.