Nexstar Media Group agrees to acquire Tribune Media Company for $6.4 billion

Nexstar Media Group, the owner of WHBF and KGCW here in the Quad Cities, just got a whole lot larger.  Nexstar has announced a deal Monday to acquire Tribune Media Company for $6.4 billion dollars. 

Nexstar will become the largest broadcast group in the nation, going from 171 television stations to 216 stations serving 118 different markets across the country.  

“We have thoughtfully structured the transaction in a manner that positions the combined entity to better compete in today’s rapidly transforming industry landscape and better serve the local communities, consumers and businesses where we operate,” Nexstar Chairman, President and CEO Perry Sook said.

Tribune Media is comprised of 42 broadcast TV stations, including stations in some of the largest markets in the country, like New York, Los Angeles, and closer to home, WGN in Chicago.  Here locally, WQAD is currently owned by Tribune Media.

In 2017, Nexstar acquired Media General, which included KWQC, but that station was then sold to Gray Media.  

Sook purchased his first station in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1996. 

Nexstar will acquire all outstanding shares of Tribune Media for $46.50 per share in a cash transaction that is valued at $6.4 billion, including the assumption of Tribune Media’s outstanding debt.  

“The transaction offers synergies related to the enhanced scale of the combined broadcast and digital media operations, and increases our audience reach by approximately 50 percent,” Sook said. “Furthermore, the addition of the Tribune Media broadcast assets further expands our geographic diversity, as pro forma for the completion of the transaction, we will serve 18 of the nation’s top 25 markets and 37 of the top 50 markets.”

The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies and is expected to close late in the third quarter of 2019, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.