The owners of Univision Communications, Inc. have held “preliminary sale talks” with several media companies, including CBS and Time Warner, the Wall Street Journal reports:
Univision is controlled by a consortium of investors including billionaire Haim Saban. The owners are seeking north of $20 billion for the company, according to people familiar with the matter. The group bought Univision for $13.7 billion, including debt, in early 2007. Mr. Saban didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Univision has long been the dominant Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S. Even so, there is no sign any of the preliminary discussions have led anywhere, however. Among other issues, one person familiar with the situation said, was the price.
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Any sale to CBS or Time Warner could complicate the Univision/ABC News joint venture Fusion. The Miami-based network, which launched in October, shares a newsroom and studios with Univision’s network news division.
In 2001, following a bidding war with Viacom, NBCUniversal acquired Telemundo, the No. 2 Spanish-language network in the U.S. The price: $1.98 billion.