While Meredith Corporation officials reported higher company earnings for its first fiscal 2016 quarter (see other story), analysts wanted to know more about the merger situation.
Suffice it to say Meredith officials are still high on what they consider to be the upside of a potential merger with Media General.
And not with the unsolicited Nexstar bid.
In a short statement, they said: “Meredith believes analysis will confirm the original combination is I the best interests of shareholders” and consumers and has the potential to generate returns “superior to the Nexstar offer.”
They also made it clear that’s their final word on any merger talk and they didn’t take questions on that topic.
To re-cap, Meredith announced an agreement in early September to merge with Media General and create Meredith Media General; they expect the deal to close by June 30 of 2016.
They briefly discussed the upcoming incentive auction, noting that “There are four markets where we think there’s a lot of potential. We’ve run the numbers.”
As FCC models “continue to shift,” Meredith will “continue to run our models to see if it makes sense for us” to take part, said one official.
