NBC Buys the Weather Channel for $3.5 Billion
- added July 6, 2008
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- huffamoose2k
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- Business (1320)
An investor group led by NBC Universal and two private equity firms clinched a deal for the Weather Channel on Sunday, after three weeks of negotiations over the sale of the weather news giant.
Though the parties did not disclose the price, the buyers – NBC and the private equity firms Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group – will pay just under $3.5 billion, people briefed on the matter said. That is less than the $5 billion that the Weather Channel’s parent, Landmark Communications, sought when it put the basic cable channel and related properties like weather.com up for sale in January.
In a sign of the weaker debt markets that have clamped down on large private equity deals, more than half of the price tag will be paid for in equity, to be divided roughly equally among the three buyers, these people said.
The deal was mostly wrapped up shortly after June 13, when Time Warner, the only other remaining bidder, dropped out.
Though not the flashiest property, the 26-year-old Weather Channel is the leading brand of weather information on television, reaching 96 million households on basic cable.
Beyond the Weather Channel, the deal also includes the Weather.com Web site, which attracts nearly 40 million unique users per month. It also encompasses Weather Services International, a forecasting service with more than 5,500 clients.
Though the parties did not disclose the price, the buyers – NBC and the private equity firms Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group – will pay just under $3.5 billion, people briefed on the matter said. That is less than the $5 billion that the Weather Channel’s parent, Landmark Communications, sought when it put the basic cable channel and related properties like weather.com up for sale in January.
In a sign of the weaker debt markets that have clamped down on large private equity deals, more than half of the price tag will be paid for in equity, to be divided roughly equally among the three buyers, these people said.
The deal was mostly wrapped up shortly after June 13, when Time Warner, the only other remaining bidder, dropped out.
Though not the flashiest property, the 26-year-old Weather Channel is the leading brand of weather information on television, reaching 96 million households on basic cable.
Beyond the Weather Channel, the deal also includes the Weather.com Web site, which attracts nearly 40 million unique users per month. It also encompasses Weather Services International, a forecasting service with more than 5,500 clients.
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- huffamoose2k
- 3 months ago
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Who gets their weather news from the Weather channel anymore? What a waste of money!
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- huffamoose2k
- 3 months ago
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Considering NBC has dozens of local affiliates that deliver weather information I think that its a sound investment, it will be easier to combine their data
and make more acurate predictions for less money.
Its a bit like aquiring the wall street journal to augment financial coverage. -
showing how expensive society's laziness is
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