Indy Radio: Smulyan Again Extends Go-Private Offer Deadline

Emmis Communications Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan has again extended his offer to take the company private as critics ratchet up their rhetoric in opposition to a deal.

According to The Indy Star, Smulyan on Friday sent a brief letter to Emmis' board pushing the deadline for his go-private offer to Oct. 7. It had been set to expire Friday.

Smulyan, who founded Emmis in 1979 and took it public in 1994, is offering $4.10 per share for a deal that would amount to about $46.5 million. It's his third attempt to take Emmis private. Smulyan made the offer public Aug. 18 and extended it Sept. 16.

Jeff Smulyan

Emmis' board has appointed a special committee consisting of Susan Bayh, an Indianapolis business leader and wife of U.S. Senate candidate Evan Bayh, and Peter Lund, a former CEO of CBS Television, to consider the offer. Smulyan did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said earlier in September that the special committee had requested more time to review his offer.

Meanwhile, investors who oppose Smulyan's offer are pressuring the special committee — and Emmis' board — to reject the deal. Those investors argue Smulyan is drastically undervaluing the company, pointing to what they say is the unlocked potential of an Emmis product called NextRadio that lets smartphone users access radio signals through their devices.

Critics say the 3.5 percent premium Smulyan offered on top of Emmis' stock price amounts to a lowball offer. Timothy Stabosz, a member of the LaPorte City Council and an investor who owns about 150,000 shares of Emmis, said in his own letter to the special committee that Smulyan is "acting selfishly and disingenuously, knowingly seeking to capture the value of the company all for himself at an INSULTINGLY low price."