The Liberty Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007) |
The Liberty Corporation (Public NYSE:LC) was a media corporation originally based out of Greenville, South Carolina. At its peak, The Liberty Corporation owned 15 network-affiliated television stations across the Midwest and Southern regions of the United 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. Their board of directors included chairman and CEO W. Hayne Hipp(who owned 12% 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.[1] Raycom paid $987 million, or $47.35 per Liberty share, and assumed Liberty's debts of approximately $110 million in the buyout. The acquisition is complete; Raycom and Liberty have both sold 14 of their original stations. Liberty has sold ABC affiliate WWAY-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina to Morris Multimedia and CBS affiliate KGBT-TV in Harlingen-McAllen-Brownsville, Texas to Barrington Broadcasting.
