Liberty Media Corporation has loudly stepped into the conversation regarding the financial future of iHeartMedia -- on Saturday, Feb. 24, Liberty, the majority stockholder of SiriusXM submitted a lengthy term sheet "to certain of [iHeartMedia's] lenders and noteholders" containing an ambitious blueprint to achieve a restructured iHeartMedia, Inc.
Liberty has proposed a $1.159 billion cash investment in a reorganized iHeartMedia, and, in exchange, according to the term sheet, "20% of the New Common Shares shall be held by Sirius and 20% of the New Common Shares shall be held by Liberty Media." The plan also calls for "[Clear Channel] Outdoor shall be spun off in a taxable transaction. Parties to cooperate to ensure transaction is taxable and otherwise done in a tax efficient manner."
Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this debacle is the result of the last time the FCC changed the ownership rules. It's taken 20 years to get to this point (a very bad point). Doing it all over again (which the FCC is encouraging) seems like complete madness.
