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Justice Department approves $19.5B sale of Clear Channel
SAN ANTONIO -- The Justice Department on Wednesday approved the $19.5 billion sale of Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. operator of radio stations and the world's largest billboard company.
The approval of the sale to a group of investors led by private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners is the final regulatory hurdle for a deal that initially struggled to get shareholder approval. The deal, which allows some shareholders to continue owning a minority portion in an unusual equity buyout structure, is expected to close by March 31.
DOJ is requiring the private firms to sell six radio stations in Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas and San Francisco to address anticompetitive concerns. The firms currently own stakes in other radio stations in those markets, the department said.
Without the sale, "advertisers that rely on radio advertising in the affected cities likely would have faced higher prices," said Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.
Bain and THL already own interest in Cumulus Media Partners, another large radio station operator, and THL has an ownership stake in Univision Communications Inc., a large Spanish broadcaster.
The sale requirement by DOJ is separate from an agreement reached last month with the Federal Communications Commission, requiring the sale of radio stations in 42 markets.
San Antonio-based Clear Channel grew into a media giant following a 1996 law that eliminated the national limit on how many radio stations a single company may own. But the radio business, which now includes 833 stations, has struggled in recent years as competitors like satellite radio and digital music players have siphoned off listeners and hurt advertising sales.
The outdoor sign business has grown, however, with more interest in digital displays and billboards that are harder to skip. The company owns 973,000 outdoor signs worldwide.
Shares of Clear Channel fell 5 cents Wednesday to close at $29.49. In after-hours trading, the stock climbed $1.31, or 4.4 percent, to $30.80.
Oil prices extend previous gains
NEW YORK -- Oil futures extended their upward march Thursday after new trade deficit figures fed optimism that the economy may dodge a serious downturn. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's suggestion that the central bank is prepared to again cut interest rates also boosted oil prices.
The Commerce Department said the trade deficit fell in December and for 2007 as a whole -- an indication the U.S. is exporting more goods. That had investors theorizing that demand for energy in the U.S. won't be as weak as feared.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said jobless claims fell more than expected last week.
On Capitol Hill, Bernanke said the Fed is ready to act again in response to deteriorating economic conditions. Interest rate cuts support oil prices because they tend to weaken the dollar. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $2.19 to settle at $95.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest close since Jan. 9. The contract has risen in 4 of the past 5 sessions, adding more than $6 in a little over a week.
Energy investors were also buying after a federal judge's decision Wednesday to confirm an earlier ruling freezing $300 million in a bank account owned by the Venezuelan state oil company. Exxon Mobil is challenging Venezuela's nationalization of an oil project. A British court's earlier decision to temporarily freeze up to $12 billion in Venezuelan oil assets drew threats from President Hugo Chavez to cut off all oil sales to the U.S.
Joliffe to sit in for Maynard in Wheeling-Pitt case
CHARLESTON -- With his own recusal now being sought in the case, Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin has selected a retired circuit judge to replace the disqualified chief justice in a pending Massey Energy Co. appeal.
Benjamin appointed Senior Status Judge Frank Joliffe of Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties to help hear Massey's appeal of a nearly $240 million judgment won by Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. and a second company.
Since that Feb. 7 decision, Wheeling-Pitt and Mountain State Carbon LLC have asked Benjamin to withdraw from the case as well.
Benjamin tapped Joliffe as acting chief justice after the plaintiffs successfully petitioned Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard to disqualify himself. Among other grounds, they cited 2006 vacation photos showing Maynard in Monaco with Massey Chief Executive Don Blankenship.
Maynard and Blankenship, who is also the coal producer's chairman and president, have since acknowledged they are longtime friends. Conceding no impropriety or wrongdoing, Maynard has recused himself from two other Massey-related appeals since the anonymously obtained photos surfaced last month.
Filed Wednesday, the recusal petition targeting Benjamin invokes the estimated $3.5 million political campaign that Blankenship bankrolled to help get Benjamin elected to the Supreme Court in 2004.
Clear Channel earns $321M in fourth quarter
SAN ANTONIO -- Radio and billboard giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. says its fourth-quarter profit rose 52 percent to $321 million.
Net income at the San Antonio-based company increased to 65 cents per share from $211 million, or 43 cents, in the year-earlier quarter, it said Thursday.
Clear Channel said its revenue was boosted by foreign-currency exchange rates, which helped sales of advertising on its billboards and digital displays in Europe.
Excluding special items, the company's earnings came out to 45 cents per share, 2 cents behind what Wall Street had expected.
