Manny Pangilinan Confirms Ongoing Negotiation to Buy-out GMA-7
Now it can be told.
Manny V. Pangilinan, Chairman of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and TV5, reveals he is in talks to buy GMA Network.
Pangilinan said he's been negotiating for the purchase of GMA Network as early as 2002, and talks were recently revived.
He, however, clarified that the talks are just preliminary.
"We've talked to them since 2002. Then maybe 5 years ago. Very, very preliminary," he said.
If the deal pushes through, GMA-7 will be the latest addition to Pangilinan's media empire, which already counts TV5 , and a minority stake in broadsheets Philippine Daily Inquirer and BusinessWorld.
Pangilinan assured TV 5 that it will not be neglected and the station's employees won't lose their jobs.
"What we want to hold sacred are the initial batch of people who joined when we're just starting," he said. "We're not abandoning them for another TV network we're investing in. They need not worry."
Why is someone who got flak for putting PLDT and Digitel together contemplating a mega-merger and investments in another industry?
"The intent is to replicate what other media groups have done elsewhere in the world," Pangilinan said.
Asked if he is "doing a Rupert Murdoch" - the Australian media mogul - Pangilinan said Murdoch is "sui generis" (class of his own).
- Source
Manny V. Pangilinan, Chairman of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and TV5, reveals he is in talks to buy GMA Network.
Pangilinan said he's been negotiating for the purchase of GMA Network as early as 2002, and talks were recently revived.
He, however, clarified that the talks are just preliminary.
"We've talked to them since 2002. Then maybe 5 years ago. Very, very preliminary," he said.
If the deal pushes through, GMA-7 will be the latest addition to Pangilinan's media empire, which already counts TV5 , and a minority stake in broadsheets Philippine Daily Inquirer and BusinessWorld.
Pangilinan assured TV 5 that it will not be neglected and the station's employees won't lose their jobs.
"What we want to hold sacred are the initial batch of people who joined when we're just starting," he said. "We're not abandoning them for another TV network we're investing in. They need not worry."
Why is someone who got flak for putting PLDT and Digitel together contemplating a mega-merger and investments in another industry?
"The intent is to replicate what other media groups have done elsewhere in the world," Pangilinan said.
Asked if he is "doing a Rupert Murdoch" - the Australian media mogul - Pangilinan said Murdoch is "sui generis" (class of his own).
- Source
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