- Mario Gabelli -- whose funds hold 19% of Journal Communications (NYSE:JRN) -- opposes the company's plan to combine broadcast ops with E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP), but without the votes to kill it, he'll either vote no or abstain.
- While the numbers make sense to Gabelli, he's unhappy that Journal would get no voice on Scripps' board -- and that the Scripps family still has outsized representation. Journal shareholders would account for 31% of the combined shares.
- "They're going to get the votes," Gabelli says of the approvals scheduled for simultaneous shareholder meetings on March 11.
- Along with combining broadcast operations, the plan involves spinning off combined newspapers into an entity called Journal Media Group based in Milwaukee, while Scripps would run the broadcast operation from Cincinnati.
- Shares today: JRN -1.5%; SSP -1.7%.