Money | Clear Channel $19B Buyout of Clear Channel Nearly Dead Credit woes have sale of radio giant to private firms crumbling By Matt Cantor Posted Mar 25, 2008 7:30 PM CDT Copied Motorists on Interstate 35 pass by a digital billboard, installed by radio and billboard giant Clear Channel, which changes images every eight seconds in this Feb. 12, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, file) A $19 billion bid to privatize Clear Channel appears likely to fall through as buyers and financiers bicker—with credit-crunch-induced liquidity woes a major stumbling block, the Wall Street Journal reports. A credit agreement between private equity firms and the banks funding the move has become shaky. “No one wants to do this deal except for the seller,” said a source. The sale was arranged in 2006, when access to credit, and prospects for the largest US radio broadcaster, were better. Selling to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital for $39.20 a share seemed fitting, but now Clear Channel’s shares are closer to $32. The company’s “viability” isn’t the issue, says an expert: “It's purely the problems inherent in the debt world today.” Read These Next 11 people hurt in a "brutal act of violence" in Michigan. We knew Letterman would pipe up about Colbert eventually. A parent's nightmare, in a white cardboard box. The humans survived this flight; the deer on the ground didn't. Report an error