Discovery, Advance merge for new public co.
December 14, 2007
Discovery Holding Company and Advance/Newhouse Programming Partnership announced that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent pursuant to which DHC and Advance/Newhouse will combine their stakes in Discovery Communications. This will mean DHC will spin-off to its shareholders a wholly-owned subsidiary holding the networks and creative services businesses of Ascent Media Group.
Immediately following the spin-off of AMG, DHC will combine with a new holding company and existing DHC stockholders will receive shares of common stock of the new publicly-traded holding company.
As part of the same plan, Advance/Newhouse will combine its interests in Discovery Communications and Animal Planet with the new holding company in exchange for preferred stock that, immediately after the closing of the transactions, will be convertible into shares representing one-third of the outstanding shares of common stock of the new holding company. “The agreement between DHC and Advance/Newhouse signals an exciting new chapter in the Discovery story. As a fully public company, Discovery will be in a stronger position to grow organically and through acquisition,” commented David Zaslav, President and CEO, Discovery Communications.