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Strategies & Market Trends : The Thread Formerly Known as No Rest For The Wicked -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BestJobEver who wrote (46578)	5/27/1999 5:13:00 PM
From: Tim Luke	Respond to of 90042

you got it

To: BestJobEver who wrote (46578)	5/27/1999 5:14:00 PM
From: Tim Luke	Respond to of 90042

Thursday May 27, 4:27 pm Eastern Time Infinity Buying Outdoor Systems By SETH SUTEL AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Infinity Broadcasting, the radio arm of CBS, is buying the nation's largest outdoor advertising company Outdoor Systems for $6.5 billion in stock, the companies announced today. The deal, which had been rumored for more than a week, makes Infinity the largest outdoor advertising company in the United States and gives CBS a wider array of options to offer advertisers. CBS has been moving toward selling packages of advertising across its media outlets, which include network TV, radio and Internet sites. Infinity is also assuming $1.8 billion in debt in the deal. It was the latest acquisition for Mel Karmazin, who is chairman of both CBS and Infinity Broadcasting, which he headed before it was bought by CBS three years ago. Infinity is the second-largest radio company in the nation in terms of revenue, behind Chancellor Media. Infinity also has outdoor advertising operations. Karmazin said in a statement that the purchase of Outdoor Systems ''extends our reach and establishes Infinity as the undisputed leader in the outdoor advertising business.'' Outdoor Systems has some 110,000 outdoor advertising spaces such as billboards in major markets throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The company, which is based in Phoenix, also has a huge presence in New York, where it has 125,000 advertising displays in subways. In early April, CBS bought King World Productions, the leading syndicator of television programming, for $2.5 billion in stock. King World distributes several hit shows including ''The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' ''Wheel of Fortune'' and ''Jeopardy.'' Under Karmazin, CBS has also made more aggressive moves into the Internet business, exchanging promotion time on its advertising outlets for large equity stakes in startup companies. So far the strategy has paid off handsomely thanks to the successful IPOs of Internet darlings like MarketWatch.com (Nasdaq:MKTW - news). The deal calls for exchanging 1.25 shares of Infinity stock for each share of Outdoor Systems, which values the transaction at $6.5 billion, or $32.50 per share of Outdoor Systems, based on Infinity's closing share price of $26 Wednesday. In midday trading today, shares of Infinity fell 62 1/2 cents to $25.37 1/2, while Outdoor Systems shares rose $1 to $29.81 1/4. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange