Tribune Media and its 42 TV stations have a new suitor — and this one likes President Trump, too.
The owner of local TV stations like WPIX in New York and WGN in Chicago is expected to get a buyout bid from Tom Hicks Jr., the Texas-based chair of America First, a super PAC that’s aligned with Trump, The Post has learned.
Hicks Equity Partners is teaming up for its bid with Cerberus Capital, the buyout firm headed by billionaire Stephen Feinberg, who also chairs an intelligence advisory panel to the president, sources said.
The Hicks-Cerberus bid is taking shape two months after the Federal Communications Commission blocked Tribune’s $3.9 billion deal to be acquired by Sinclair Broadcasting — the conservative giant that courted controversy this spring by making its local news anchors read scripted criticism of anti-Trump news coverage.
Tribune has signed confidentiality agreements with the latest crop of suitors and is taking first-round nonbinding offers by the end of the month, sources said.
Nexstar Media Group, which operates 171 TV stations nationwide, is still among those still pursuing Tribune, sources said. Private equity firms Apollo Global Management and the Blackstone Group are likewise weighing offers, a source said.
Bids may reach the “mid-$40s” range, implying a potential market value north of $3.8 billion, according to one source close to the talks.
Because Hicks and Cerberus don’t currently own any TV stations, they should be able to sail though regulatory agencies, giving them a possible edge in the auction, sources said.
Others noted that Sinclair’s own $3.9 billion bid had depended on keeping certain stations if its merger was to be profitable — stations that the FCC ruled it would have had to divest.
Tribune shares on Monday closed at $37.59, giving the company a market capitalization of $3.3 billion.
“Nexstar will be pretty aggressive, but they have some regulatory issues,” a source said, noting the Texas-based firm run by Perry Sook could face antitrust issues like Sinclair did.
Nexstar also is interested in buying the 14 TV stations Cox Enterprises is planning on selling in an auction that is not yet underway, sources said. It is unlikely Nexstar can buy both sets of stations, the sources added.
For Tom Hicks Jr.’s 72-year-old father, who is also working on the bid, a Tribune buyout would represent quite a comeback. In the 1990s, his former firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst was one of the biggest private equity groups and made much of its money from media deals.
His private equity firm collapsed after bad investments made in telecom and tech companies shortly before the 2000 dot-com bubble burst.
Hicks Equity and Tribune Media declined comment. Cerberus and Nexstar didn’t respond to requests for comment.