In a most unsurprising development, Harbinger's three nominees for Media General's (MEG/NYSE) Board were elected today. I say unsurprising because you couldn't follow this story and not get the feeling as time went on -- from both Harbinger and Media General management -- that the slate was likely to make it.
The only question was the vote tally. The results are preliminary and will be finalized
in the next several days. But Harbinger says the preliminary tabulations show its candidates
received between 57% and 68% of the votes cast.
If true, that sounds like a lot.
Media General's Class A stock is overwhelmingly held by institutions. There's very little float considering its a NYSE-listed company.
One thing about that is if the institutions are against you on something, they can wage and win a proxy battle. With Gabelli owning 22% and Harbinger owning another 18%, the three director nominees didn't need all that much more support.
Of course, you know what I'm going to type next, don't you?
Media General, like most other media outfits, has a dual-class structure keeping the founding family in charge. So this event may turn to be every bit as underwhelming as it was unsurprising.
We'll see.
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