How Ion Media Scored for Investors by Bucking TV’s Conventional Wisdom

variety.com:

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorAbout 15 years ago, Ion Media chairman-CEO Brandon Burgess set out to play “Moneyball” with a group of TV stations that were on the verge of bankruptcy.

He scored in the long run by following his own kind of algorithm, with a strategy that was counter to the business trends that are transforming the pay-TV marketplace.

After inheriting a company saddled with nearly $3 billion in debt, Burgess this month completed the sale of Ion to E.W. Scripps Co.

and Berkshire Hathaway for $2.7 billion.“We were never the cool, sexy network, but we gave our investors a return of 28X on their capital,” says Burgess, who spent eight years as a top dealmaker at NBC before moving to Ion in late 2005.