Univision’s big week: Broadcaster drops Trump and files for IPO
The Univision building in Los Angeles. The broadcasting company filed plans to launch an initial public offering of its stock Thursday.
Spanish-language broadcasting company Univision Holdings Inc. filed plans Thursday to launch an initial public offering of its stock.
The New York-based company said Thursday that it expects to raise up to $100 million in the offering. It did not say how many shares it will sell or how much they will cost. It expects the stock to trade on the New York Stock Exchange or on Nasdaq under the symbol “UVN.”
Last week, the Spanish-language media giant cut business ties with Donald Trump, saying the real estate mogul made “insulting remarks” about Mexican immigrants when he announced that he was running for president.
On June 25, Univision said it would not air the Miss USA pageant, as scheduled, on July 12. The company added it was severing its relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is part-owned by Trump.
Univision had already paid a $2.5-million fee to cover its commitment this year for the pageant rights, according to a person familiar with the arrangement who was not authorized to publicly discuss details.
The extent of Univision’s financial exposure was unclear. Univision’s five-year contract with the Miss Universe Organization was valued at more than $13 million.
In a suit filed on June 30 in New York State Supreme Court, Trump said Univision breached its contract with the Miss Universe pageant, of which he owns 49%, and called the act a politically motivated attempt to suppress the real estate mogul’s freedom of speech.
Trump is asking for $500 million in damages from Univision.
Proceeds from the planned IPO will be used to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, the company said.
Univision’s principal unit is Media Networks, which operates Univision Network and UniMas. It also operates nine cable networks, including Galavision and the sports cable network Univision Deportes. It also operates 67 radio stations. The company says it reaches over 49 million viewers monthly.
The company expects growth along with the Spanish-language market. The demographic represented 57 million people in the U.S. and is projected to grow to 77 million by 2030. Univision also said it is the youngest demographic in the U.S., with 60 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population being 34 or younger as of 2012.
Univision said it had profit of $1.9 million on revenue of $2.91 billion in 2014.
Times staff writers Meg James and Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.
