The majority owners of GMA Network Inc. rejected the offer of the group of former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson to acquire a minority stake in the broadcasting network.
GMA chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon told reporters on Wednesday night confirmed that Singson and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao offered to buy a minority stake in the network. The transaction did not push through. “The owners decided that they want to focus on growing the business. In short, they don’t want to sell at this point,” Gozon said.
“We are not selling, but if we receive an offer that we will like, then we will sell. We are not going out there and to sell it,” he added.
The Gozon, Jimenez and Duavit families own a combined 79 percent of GMA Network, which airs on Channel 7 on free TV.
Majority shareholders of the broadcaster earlier agreed to sell about 30 percent of the company to businessman Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp., but the negotiation was scuttled after more than one year of talks. Talks with the group of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. also did not push through due to price and regulatory issues.
Gozon, meanwhile, said the company expects net income to hit over P2 billion this year.
“We will end the year now with more than 100 percent increase in our net income,” he said.
The network’s profit reached P1.804 billion in the January-to-September period, up by almost 80 percent over the the same period last year.
The company’s airtime revenues in the first nine months reached P9.373 billion, exceeding last year’s performance by 18 percent. Propelling the increase was flagship TV station GMA Channel 7 as it recorded an 18 percent growth in its topline.
The company’s radio business also continued to build on its momentum from the previous periods as revenues jumped 21 percent versus 2014.
GMA News TV yielded positive results with a 17 percent increase in its earnings.
GMA Worldwide, a wholly owned unit of the GMA that syndicates content from the Kapuso Network to local and foreign market, sold 1,700 program hours from January to September 2015, equivalent to more than $753,000.
The demand for GMA’s entertainment and news content is rising, especially in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar and Africa.
The network added that a comprehensive library with thousands of hours of GMA dramas, movies and news and public affairs content would be available on both iFlix and Hooq by the end of the year.