Investor Ted Forstmann Dies; Company Bought Citadel In 2001

WALL STREET investment firm FORSTMANN LITTLE AND CO. senior founding partner and IMG Chairman/CEO TED FORSTMANN died SUNDAY of brain cancer at 71, IMG announced SUNDAY in a statement.

FORSTMANN's firm, FORSTMAN LITTLE, founded with his late brother NICK and BRIAN LITTLE, was a major player in the leveraged buyout world of the 1980s, eschewed the use of junk bonds, as rival firms practiced, in favor of subordinated debt funding.  Among the company's investments was CITADEL BROADCASTING, which it bought in 2001 from LARRY WILSON and retained 27% in the merger with DISNEY's ABC RADIO stations in 2006, losing the equity in CITADEL's 2010 bankruptcy.

He was also known for his characterization of LBO firms using junk bonds as "barbarians at the gate," which became the title of a book and movie about the LBO craze.

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