More
than six weeks into the baseball season, and the Atlanta Braves are not only a
half-game behind the New York Mets in the National League East standings, but
the team officially has a new owner: Liberty Media Corp.
Time Warner Inc. announced Thursday, May 17, that it had completed the roughly
$1.5 billion deal that will transfer the ownership of the Major League
franchise to John Malone's media empire.
Under the deal, which published reports have said valued the franchise at $461
million, the two are capitalizing on a so-called cash-rich splitoff designed
to minimize tax bills. Liberty is exchanging 68.5 million shares of Time
Warner (worth about $1.47 billion as of midday Thursday) in return for the
Braves, crafts magazine business Leisure Arts, and $960 million in cash.
Liberty has retained about 103 milliion shares in Time Warner, equal to 2.8%
of the company. The deal, which was
reached
in mid-February after a year of negotiations, has been approved by the
rest of Major League Baseball’s owners.
The transaction comes in the midst of a very successful start to the 2007
season for the Braves, who at a 25-15 mark sport one of the best records in
baseball—a dramatic change from last season when the team remained in the NL
East cellar. —Ben Fidler
See
press release from Liberty Media
See
story from The Atlanta Journal Constitution
See
earlier story from TheDeal.com
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