Something’s Cooking In Lew’s Kitchen
• It certainly looks like Lew Dickey‘s long-rumored return to the broadcasting industry has taken a major step forward — in an 8K filing with the SEC dated Friday, Nov. 3, Dickey’s Modern Media Acquisition division stated that, “Effective as of October 31, 2018, the Company signed a non-binding letter of intent with a private company that sets forth the preliminary terms and conditions of a potential business combination. As a result, pursuant to the provisions of the Company’s seconded amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the Company has until February 17, 2019 to consummate its business combination.”
The filing does not specify what type of business this aforementioned “private company” is engaged in, but it is certainly fun to speculate… As was previously reported, Modern Media Acquisition has been sitting on $210.71 million war chest to use for… something… and had a deadline of Nov. 17 to spend said money on media-related assets.
The filing goes on to say, “There can be no assurance that the parties will enter into definitive agreements or that the parties will consummate the transactions contemplated by the non-binding letter of intent. If the Company does not consummate a business combination on or before February 17, 2019, it would distribute the proceeds held in trust to its shareholders in accordance with its amended and restated certificate of incorporation.” That being said, the smart money is betting that this deal will get done.
It’s interesting to note that Dickey has spent the past few months shoring up his other division, Atlanta-based Modern Luxury with several former high level Cumulus colleagues — in early September, Gary Pizzati, former Cumulus SVP, Major Markets joined Modern Luxury Media as President & Chief Revenue Officer, while Lori Lewis, former VP of Social Media for Cumulus Media & Westwood One recently relocated to Atlanta as Vice President, Social Media for Modern Luxury. The chess pieces are falling into place…
