- The Liberty Corporation
The Liberty Corporation (Public
NYSE : [http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=LC LC] ) was a mediacorporation originally based out ofGreenville, South Carolina . At its peak, "The Liberty Corporation" owned 15 network-affiliatedtelevision station s across theMidwest and Southern regions of theUnited States . On top of that, cable advertising sales group CableVantage Inc., video production facility Take Ten Productions and broadcast equipment distributor Broadcast Merchandising Corporation were also some of its assets.The company formerly held Liberty Life Insurance Company and Pierce National Life Insurance Company, which it sold in 2000 to
Royal Bank of Canada .After the sale of its insurance division, the company employed approximately 1,400 people. The executive officers included
chairman and CEO W. Hayne Hipp(who, with his family, owned about 25% of the company before its sale to Raycom Media), president and COO James M. Keelor, CFO Howard L. Schrott.In August 2005, Liberty agreed to be bought out by
Raycom Media . [ [http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2005-08-26T001218Z_01_N25706816_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-LIBERTYCORP-UPDATE-3.XML] Dead link|date=May 2008] Raycom paid $987 million, or $47.35 per Liberty share, and assumed Liberty's debts of approximately $110 million in the buyout. The acquisition was completed in February 2006; After the closing of the purchase of Liberty,Raycom sold a number of stations. Of the stations that were sold, two were from the Liberty portfolio. They included ABC WWAY-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina to Morris Multimedia andCBS affiliateKGBT-TV in Harlingen-McAllen-Brownsville,Texas toBarrington Broadcasting .References
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