Biz Buzz: Emboldened

After more than a year of courtship with businessman Ramon Ang, GMA Network finally announced on Tuesday that it had unilaterally terminated negotiations with the San Miguel Corp. president for the latter to acquire a 30-percent stake (in a personal capacity) in the country’s second-biggest television network.

The announcement caught Ang by surprise—he said so in a statement released by his office on Tuesday—as he vowed to seek clarification from GMA Network’s controlling shareholders—the Gozon, Duavit and Jimenez families—as to what the real score was, and what prompted the sudden decision.

In any case, Ang is right to be concerned about the sudden termination of the talks with GMA Network as he had paid the network’s controlling shareholders a deposit of P1 billion just as he entered talks with them in the wake of the scuttling of the network’s long courtship with another suitor, businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. And word on the street is that this deposit is a non-refundable fee (although it’s unclear whether this is, in fact, subject to certain terms).

Biz Buzz, however, has heard that the increasingly testy relationship between Ang and Felipe Gozon, the network’s CEO, may have been aggravated by the entry of a third party into the picture. In particular, our sources say that one very interested GMA suitor has returned to the scene a few weeks ago to make known that it is still interested in having the broadcast firm’s hand in marriage, so to speak.

Word on the street is that this suitor offered almost the same terms and price for GMA Network as Ang did (except for the P1-billion deposit, of course), but the network’s owners chose to enter into talks with Ang due to their long-running personal relationships with him. This suitor is so interested in GMA Network, in fact, that it even approached Ang when he first came into the picture, asking to be an equity partner in the company.

Thus, this suitor’s interest may have emboldened Gozon to end talks with Ang, especially since its principals have put the conglomerate on an expansion mode in recent years to catch up with its aggressive rivals. Also, there’s word that GMA Network’s shareholders may want to enjoy the power and income that a television firm brings during the Philippines’ biggest party, the national elections, in May next year.

Of course, they say in statistics that two events—in this case, two failed negotiations with potential buyers—may be a coincidence, but three is definitely a trend. So if this fails for a third time… <wink wink> So, which conglomerate is interested in GMA Network? It’s the one based in Makati. Daxim L. Lucas

Print media consolidation

EVERYONE is buzzing about who GMA Network’s new suitor will be—Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. or maybe Globe Telecom—with talks between the television network and businessman Ramon Ang breaking down.

But over to the less glitzy side of media, meaning the print business and, specifically, PLDT’s newspaper business, we’ve heard of some new developments.

Apparently, recently elected BusinessWorld CEO Miguel Belmonte has wasted no time in implementing some restructuring. He already announced that certain senior managers, finance officials and even marketing personnel will resign or will be replaced, presumably by his own people. As readers probably know, Belmonte, the son of House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr., remains the CEO of the Philippine Star, which PLDT’s media arm also owns. (PLDT also has a minority interest in the Philippine Daily Inquirer).

Belmonte was apparently asked to run BusinessWorld, the country’s oldest surviving business paper, and head efforts to streamline the publication as it’s to be placed under the Star Group. In less words, they’re consolidating their newspaper businesses structure. This is also important amid a challenging era for media players. Plus, there’s also growing competition from domestic players, such as its rival BusinessMirror, and even international news outlets.

That said, we feel this broadly sends a good signal, as—dare we say it—more interest is directed toward business stories with the country’s good economic performance these past few years. We expect to hear more changes soon. Miguel R. Camus

NAIA 3 ‘extension’

Resorts World Manila (RWM) in Newport City may have new rivals sprouting around the metropolis but its proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3—which is literally just across from the street—is seen as its big competitive advantage.

Since Naia Terminal 3 (or any other airport terminal in town) is hardly entertaining for travelers with lots of time to kill, RWM developer and operator Travellers International Hotel Group is positioning itself to become a lifestyle-oriented extension of the airport.

Starting next year, bored travelers with several hours of flight layover or waiting time can literally walk from Terminal 3, cross an overhead foot bridge to RWM, check in their carry-on luggage at a counter to be put up by Travellers and explore the integrated resort. For the last phases of RWM expansion, Travellers is putting up two new shopping malls to attract more foot traffic even from the non-gamers.

Alongside the upcoming malls, Travellers president Kingson Sian says the group is even planning to put up a nice gym at the integrated resort, thus offering a place for traveling fitness buffs. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

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