Mario Gabelli, Scripps Management Wage Proxy Battle

Proxy War

Investor MARIO GABELLI's move to try and get three directors elected to the Board of THE E.W. SCRIPPS CO., challenging the company's operations and looking to squeeze more value from the operation, is being challenged in turn by SCRIPPS President/CEO ADAM SYMSON, who issued a press release in response to GABELLI's move.

GABELLI's GAMCO ASSET MANAGEMENT INC. has nominated COLLEEN BIRDNOW BROWN, RAYMOND H. COLE, and VINCENT L. SADUSKY to the SCRIPPS board and is urging shareholders to vote for them by proxy or at the MAY 10th shareholders meeting, contending that if SCRIPPS Broadcast Cash Flow margins can be increased by 600 basis points, the company could realize $500 million of additional value at 7x Broadcast Cash Flow, thus increasing share price and opening up more television acquisition opportunities.  The company has placed its radio operations up for sale, with no activity on that front yet reported.

But in the release, SCRIPPS insists that it is "aggressively implementing a transformative company growth strategy that has momentum and is yielding tangible results" and asks shareholders to vote for its own nominees, LAUREN R. FINE, ROGER L. OGDEN, and KIM WILLIAMS.   SYMSON said, "We have a plan underway based on real numbers and tied to real decisions we're making that we anticipate will create as much if not more value and performance improvement than GAMCO asserts we need.  GAMCO has put forth margin targets that are vague and baseless, while the SCRIPPS plan is based on specifics. We have the right board members and the right plan in place, and we are moving forward with urgency."  He added that he had offered to include one of GABELLI's nominees as part of SCRIPPS' slate of director nominees but GABELLI turned the offer down.

The SCRIPPS plan is described in the release as involving streamlining the Local Media segment (selling radio) for $30 million in annual savings, executing a buy-sell-swap strategy for TV station acquisitions, and cash flow growth from operations, based on retransmission revenue and restructuring.

« see more Net News