Acquisition By Cumulus Media
Months after Citadel Broadcasting emerged from bankruptcy, it was approached by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media with two different, unsolicited merger offers, both of which Citadel turned down. Then, in February 2011 CNBC reported Cumulus was in "exclusive negotiations" to acquire Citadel. This third offer would be worth $2.5 billion to Citadel shareholders, some of whom were said to have already been pushing the board to consider a sale.
On March 10, 2011, Citadel Broadcasting announced via email that it had been purchased by Cumulus Media in a deal worth $1.7 billion dollars. Pending approval from Citadel shareholders, it was expected that the deal would be finalized by the end of 2011. Some of the Cumulus or Citadel radio stations would, however, have to be transferred into a trust to comply with the FCC's ownership limitations, especially in those markets where Citadel already had a "grandfathered" over-the-limit station group. Ultimately these included WELJ (Montauk, New York) and WCAT-FM (Carlisle, Pennsylvania), placed in a trust operated by Scott Knoblauch.
Cumulus Media's purchase of Citadel became final on September 16, 2011.
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