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U.S. Leading Media Companies |
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The nation's 100 Leading Media Companies over the past year concocted more than a dozen major mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs with a total value topping $85 billion. Private equity gets much of the credit (meaning a pile of debt and lots of challenges ahead). Shareholders last week approved media's most recent biggie, the $19.5 billion leveraged buyout of Clear Channel Communications, No. 16 in this issue's media ranking.
Amid all the mergers and acquisitions, the Media 100's U.S. media revenue jumped 8.1% to a record $287 billion in 2006. The 10 largest companies accounted for 55.6% of revenue collected by the Media 100 in 2006, according to the Ad Age. Time Warner, which has held the No. 1 spot each year since 1995, collected 11.8% of Media 100 revenue -- nearly one of every eight dollars spent by advertisers and consumers on products and services from the top 100. Comcast Corp. ranked No. 2 on the list. Three other major players -- DirecTV Group, Cox Enterprises and EchoStar Communications -- ranked among the top 10. Time Warner, meanwhile, owns 84% of Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable system operator after Comcast.
Private-equity-and-debt promoters drove mergers and acquisitions, with buyouts done or pending for Media 100 companies including Clear Channel, Univision Communications, Reader's Digest Association, Catalina Marketing and Cumulus Media. Tribune Co. and Cablevision Systems also are pressing ahead with deals to go private. Beyond private equity, there wasn't a central theme to M&A. News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch snared Dow Jones & Co. There was category consolidation, with Sirius Satellite Radio striking a deal to buy rival XM Satellite Radio. Some media giants sold non-core businesses; Walt Disney Co. spun off its ABC Radio stations and network to Citadel Broadcasting Corp. |
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