Activist investor Standard General blasted Tegna, claiming that the Tegna board has failed to hold management accountable and jeopardized opportunities to maximize shareholder value.
Tegna on Sunday said that it received four takeover proposals and provided due-diligence information about the company to two of the suitors, but that all of the bids have been withdrawn because of uncertainty surrounding how the Coronavirus crisis is affecting business conditions.
Standard General accused Tegna of creating a process that discouraged bidders and ended the possibility of a takeover that would benefit shareholders.
Tegna's own letter to shareholders defended its financial record. Tegna's board has a proven track record of taking decisive action to maximize shareholder value," the company said. "We are confident that our strategy will continue to deliver sustainable shareholder value. At the same time, the Board is open to all potential transactions to generate value but we will only pursue a transaction if it is in the best interests of all of our shareholders.
Tegna also noted that it had previously approached [Standard General founder Soo] Kim to gauge his interest in a potential settlement that would not include him personally joining the Board. He summarily' rejected any settlement that does not include a Board seat for himself making it clear to us that he is motivated by self-interest and not a desire for shareholder representation.
In a definitive proxy statement to Tegna shareholders Tuesday, Standard General said unfortunately Tegna shares have been a long-term underperformer compared to other broadcasters, until reports of those takeover bids surfaced.
The letter criticized CEO Dave Lougee, saying that under his tenure, Tegna has failed to take advantage of many critical industry developments, including former profitable duopolies and optimizing its portfolio to take advantage of the UHF discount in the way the FCC calculated broadcast ownership caps.
Standard General, which owns near 10% of Tegna's shares, said we believe one of the key reasons for Tegna's underperformance is the lack of relevant industry expertise on its board. Standard General has proposed a slate of four directors it wants elected to the Tegna board. Standard General had also wanted to add former Tribune executive Larry Wert to the Tegna board, but it turned out a provision in Werts prevented him from serving, so he withdrew.
Tegna has rebuffed Standard's slate and recently added an investment banker to the board.
It also criticized the slow and difficult process Tegna employed as acquisition bids came in. Had Tegna moved more quickly and shown the flexibility that is customary in ordinary times, we believe Tegna could have converted the strong interest in a premium-priced acquisition from multiple credible parties into a deal that would be great for shareholders,
Standard General urged stockholders to vote for its slate of directors at the company's shareholder meeting.
We are now convinced that Tegna will not achieve its potential unless the Board is upgraded and consists of directors who have experience in local affiliate broadcasting and are committed to vigorous oversight of TEGNA's operations, as well as its capital allocation and strategic alternatives, the letter said.
Additionally, Standard General launched www.TomorrowsTEGNA.com.
Tegna said its board remains concerned about Standard General's significant conflicts of interest and the experience of shareholders at other companies where Mr. Kim and other Standard General representatives held board seats.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Standard General was seeking five board seats. The story now reflects that Larry Wert has withdrawn as a candidate.
Most recent headlines
02/01/2025
With more than 640 million users and more than 250 million subscribers, Spotify ...
02/01/2025
NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, continued to advance in 2024, with some notable developments and renewed hopes that a deregulatory-minded Federal Communications Commi...
02/01/2025
Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly the hottest topic in the tech industry today, displaying all the excitement, apprehension and hype of the early days of t...
02/01/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. NBC Sports said 2024 was its best year in terms of ratings since 2016. Its success was fueled by the Paris Summer Olympics as well as its NFL co...
02/01/2025
MSG Networks has been dropped from Altice USA's Optimum-branded pay TV offerings after the operator and the regional sports provider were unable to reach a ...
02/01/2025
How color film and analog color TV works with bluescreen / chromakey
Graham Quince January 2, 2025
0 Comments
A deep dive into VFX History looking at ...
02/01/2025
Hulu Series Interior Chinatown Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton January 2, 2025
0 Comments
Colorist Aidan Stanford delivers complex gra...
02/01/2025
Bulk Font Replacement in Premiere Pro
Andy Ford January 2, 2025
0 Comments
If you want to change the font of multiple text layers in Premiere Pro, the...
02/01/2025
Streaming media's impact on the media and entertainment industry continued to widen in 2024, as more sports rights moved to streaming platforms and the rapi...
02/01/2025
ATLANTA The board of directors for Gray Television Inc. has unanimously voted to change the company's name to Gray Media, Inc. effective Jan. 1....
02/01/2025
Official television and film archives exist to preserve the history and creativity of media. But even these formal institutions do not contain everything that h...
02/01/2025
Welsh succeeds Renard Jenkins, who has reached the end of his two-year tenure in the role
By Jenny Priestley
Published: January 2, 2025
Welsh succeeds Ren...
02/01/2025
Creator Economy Isn't Really Like Film/Show Entertainment
Andy Marken January 1, 2025
0 Comments
Come on Barry, you're good at this sort of s...
02/01/2025
Blackmagic Design Announces New Lower Price for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera ...
02/01/2025
Hollywood Lighting Hacks: Big Looks, Tiny Budget
Sean Alami January 1, 2025
0 Comments
Discover how to create stunning Hollywood-style lighting using ...
02/01/2025
PDC World Darts Championship: Sky Sports on the oche for the Nuke's' re...
02/01/2025
PGA TOUR's Mike Raimondo on the Highlights and Impact of the PGA's New C...
02/01/2025
SVG Year in Review - Audio Edition: More Music, More Mergers, Fewer A1s Spectrum, sports betting, AI are other factors in sound for both broadcast and streaming...
02/01/2025
SVG Year in Review: Our Most Read Stories, A Look Back at Paris 2024, and the Bi...
02/01/2025
Comscore Appoints New Chief Marketing Officer Measurement innovator taps TV, streaming and digital ad veteran Jackelyn Keller for brand and product marketing e...
02/01/2025
A fresh start to 2025 with new faces, familiar voices and plenty of Irish music ...
02/01/2025
GeForce NOW is kicking off 2025 by delivering 14 games to the cloud this month, with two available to stream this week so members can get started on their New Y...
01/01/2025
Marcy Lefkovitz, Dalet SVP product innovation, details the findings of the companys report into the future of newsrooms, including leveraging AI, optimising mul...
01/01/2025
PGA TOUR Centers Media Operations in Transformative New Studio Fully integrated ST 2110 facility enhances production for fans domestic and international By Ken...
31/12/2024
Rashad Frett shares a moment with Michelle Satter at the 2023 Directors Lab. Pho...
31/12/2024
What's Ahead in 2025? OWC's Larry O'Connor Offers Some Bold Predicti...
31/12/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces New Features for Blackmagic Cloud
Brie Clayton December 31, 2024
0 Comments
New thumbnail icon view, clip metadata inspect...
31/12/2024
5 Features in DaVinci Resolve You're Not Using (But You Should Be)
Kasia Jarco December 31, 2024
0 Comments
In this video we are going to talk abo...
31/12/2024
Back to All News
NFL Christmas Day Games on Netflix Average Over 30 Million Global Viewers
Entertainment
31 December 2024
Global
Link copied to clipboard
...
31/12/2024
Back to All News
Squid Game' Season 2 Smashes Top 10 Records as Millions W...
30/12/2024
Leaving Thomson after 21 years, former Managing Director David Quin reflects on a career spent navigating the shifting sands of global media development. From r...
30/12/2024
[Pictured: a still from Love Lies Bleeding, one of the 100 Sundance-supported titles that opened to wider audiences in 2024]...
30/12/2024
Digital Domain Creates Groundbreaking VFX for Venom: The Last Dance, Bringing ...
30/12/2024
Internet Giant GMP Builds Tokyo Virtual Event Space with URSA Broadcast G2
Brie Clayton December 30, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 and ...
30/12/2024
Renderboxes launches Photon, a no-compromise transportable high-performance work...
30/12/2024
Shinobi II Monitor Supports Canon, Sony, Nikon - Touch to Focus with New Feature...
30/12/2024
30 Dec 2024
In a Groundbreaking Agreement, VEON and Starlink to Bring Starlink ...
30/12/2024
The pace of technology innovation has accelerated in the past year, most dramati...
29/12/2024
Gyeongnam Culture and Arts Foundation (GCAF), an active promotor of cultural and artistic diversity, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X700 camera chains for integration i...
27/12/2024
After starting 2024 with hopes that the transition to streaming might finally produce a more stable, profitable businesses, the media and entertainment industry...
27/12/2024
Broadcasters ended the year with hopes and fears about how the federal government will regulate the TV industry in 2025. While the incoming Trump administration...
27/12/2024
NVIDIA's AI Podcast gives listeners the inside scoop on the ways AI is transforming nearly every industry. Since the show's debut in 2016, it's gar...
26/12/2024
Talking about artificial intelligence in 2024 is akin to talking about the internet in 1994 everyone's excited about it and thinks it will have an enormous ...
26/12/2024
Back to All News
Netflix NFL Christmas Gameday Reaches 65 Million US Viewers
Entertainment
26 December 2024
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to clipboard
U...
26/12/2024
Back to All News
Check Out All the Must-See Trailers From Netflix's NFL Chr...
26/12/2024
Back to All News
Beyonc Delivers Epic Gift of a Halftime Performance "Beyonc...
26/12/2024
Back to All News
Get in the Game With Squid Game' Season 2 Complete Coverage Guide
Entertainment
26 December 2024
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Are...
26/12/2024
This GFN Thursday wraps up another incredible year for cloud gaming. Take a look back at the top games and new features that made 2024 a standout for GeForce NO...
24/12/2024
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is calling for applications from South African film and television filmmakers to be part of the NFVF's delegat...
Activist investor Standard General blasted Tegna, claiming that the Tegna board has failed to hold management accountable and jeopardized opportunities to maximize shareholder value.
