Fisher gets Gordon Gecko'd

Which means its for sale. It's been for sale for some time considering the drain that Fisher Plaza did to their bottom line.

The local owners of KOMO TV-Radio (KING FM managed)and other broadcasting properties announced today that Fisher through it's board "has decided to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives intended to enhance shareholder value, which could result in, among other things, a possible sale of the company."

According to reports in the Puget Sound Biz Journal " "In early Thursday trading, shares in Fisher (NASDAQ: FSCI) were up more than 16 percent, rising $4.58 to $33.07."

 

 

 

 

That giant sucking sound from Hedge Fund Plaza

 "The company has not made a decision to pursue any specific strategic transaction or any other strategic alternative, and there is no set timetable for the strategic review process," Fisher said in a statement.

 

Reuters was more specific  that Fisher shares jumped as much as 20 percent to $34.25, valuing the company at $304 million, under pressure from billionaire investor Mario "Gordon Gecko"Gabelli, said it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale.

Gabelli, the largest shareholder in the company with a 28.63 percent stake, said however that he still preferred a leveraged restructuring to an outright sale.

"I'd have done a leveraged restructuring because that is the culture of 1980s. That is what Multimedia (Inc) did and that was a very good way to make money for the shareholders," Gabelli told Reuters. Which is Wall Street Speak for 'lunch is for wimps'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun-tzu: If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight, and if not, get Bonneville on the phone. 

 

Gabelli suggested in a letter to Fisher in April last year that they implement a leveraged restructuring similar to the one executed by Multimedia Inc Chief Executive Wilson Wearn in 1985. (link.reuters.com/myn25t)

We don't see a Bud Fox here to save the last locally owned broadcast company in the NW. 

 Gabelli calling the Fisher suits "pal" when in Seattle

 

Comments

[TS]

"leveraged buy out" - does that mean busting the retirement benefits of employees? That would truly be the Gecko-ing of Fisher. I hoped that sort of restructuring went away with "greed is good" and Mitt Romney.

[RadioShark]

Pretty much speaks of how the internet and it's peripheral appendages have affected old-fashioned media. Would not be surprised to see a multi-national giant swallow them up. Shark tank time.

[John DeRosa]

Colleen Brown, psychopathic new media guru, is sure to get a golden parachute.

[Mikee Barer]

Fisher, specifically KOMO, had a tough year last year, if not financially, emotionally.

[T-S]

I wonder, Mike, if that would have happened the same way if out-of-town buyers were in charge? Good example of empathy from local ownership.

[GOPer]

They need to get Piers Morgan to tell America how good Fisher and KOMO is good for them. Maybe a buyer will come forward.

[Nevet's Ghost]

A change of pace - our education system is in a sad state - a discussion from the Five on Fox News yesterday (a show with content - and debate of liberal vs. conservative). If nothing else, it could bring a stimulating discussion.

Eric Bolling accused Scholastic, the largest publisher and distributor of children's books, of "pushing a liberal agenda" in a fifth grade algebra exercise.

Bolling held up a worksheet created by the publisher on the math property distribution. Bolling and his Fox News co-hosts were seemingly appalled by the worksheet's title, "Distribute the Wealth."

"Distribute the wealth, for distributive property of addition and multiplication," Bolling said while reading off the worksheet. Pointing to the illustration of a girl holding money, Bolling added, "Distribute the wealth with the lovely rich girl with a big old bag of money, handing some money out."

He cautioned parents to read their children's textbooks and said, "I do it every year at parent-teacher night, you have to read your kids' textbooks, find out what's being taught. If you see a bias, make sure you explain it to your kids and by all means, tell your teachers you're on it!"

Scholastic described the worksheet as giving students "insight into the distributive property as it applies to multiplication ... Students complete each multiplication sentence using the distributive property!"

Co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle said that she goes through all of her six-year-old's homework papers, adding that she was now on "high alert after this inappropriateness!"

"So it starts in third grade [with] 'Distribute The Wealth,' and guess what happens? Through their whole educational experience they continually get indoctrinated through college," a concerned Bolling said, holding up the math sheet once again.

Co-host Dana Perino said that the assignment was probably written by an "Occupy Wall Street grad student."

Bolling made one last appeal to parents to check their children's textbooks, particularly their history books. He said he was once looking through his child's history textbook and read a section on the war in Iraq. "They were very, very liberally biased, saying George Bush went in there because he heard there were weapons of mass destruction and they were never found. It was a very liberal bias to the history books," Bolling said.

[Mike Barer]

T-S. Good question, but Fisher has gotten so large, it does not seem like your ma and pa shop.

[David Allyn]

I hear Al Gore has a cool $500 million laying around now...

[sparky]

N.G. you obviously flunked math in 5th grade. The exercise is on the distributive property--
"a(b + c) = ab + ac"
( as opposed to the associative property "a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c" or the commutative property "a + b = b + a";

That the idiots on Fox think algebra is a liberal conspiracy proves that it takes no brains at all to be on TV. I dont blame YOU for hiding behind Nevets' name..he was equally uneducated. Thanks for my giant laugh of the night.

[ExPattBrit]

Fox suggested that a 1$ trillion coin would have to weigh the same as 89 Blue Whales.

This must be true because, the current $100 bill weighs 100 times more than the $1 bill.

Must be something to do with thread count in the cotton they use.

[GOPer]

The lunch lady speaks about the educated. So hilarious.