Landmark Communications, owner of The Weather Channel and its web affiliates, a stable of real estate, employment, and travel web sites, and local TV stations and newspapers, is putting its properties on the auction block, the company said Thursday.
In a phone interview, Vice Chairman Richard Barry characterized a $5 billion price tag put on The Weather Channel assets in a New York Times story as "a great number" though the valuation did not come from Landmark.
"It's not our number," he said. "We think it's a great number. We don't think it's outrageous."
Landmark, ranked No. 239 on Fobes' list of the largest private U.S. companies in 2007 with estimated 2006 revenue of $1.75 billion, is controlled by the Batten family.
In its statement, the company said it had hired investment bankers from J.P. Morgan and Lehman Brothers to explore the possible sale of the company's businesses.
Mr. Barry said the process is likely to take "not too many months." Cable giant Comcast, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and General Electric subsidiary NBC had expressed interest in The Weather Channel and its web assets, according to a report in The Times.
In June, The Weather Channel sites were ranked No. 13 in comScore's listing of the top U.S. web properties. The sites had 39.9 million unique monthly visitors, ahead of Facebook, Craigslist, and ESPN, according to comScore. Rival weatherbug was ranked No. 45.
In December, The Weather Channel Interactive launched new geo-targeting services that let advertisers tailor their pitches based on users' navigation through online weather maps. The Weather Channel was founded in 1982 as a 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to weather.
Landmark, based in Norfolk, Virginia, also owns The Virginian-Pilot and the Roanoke Times.
“Landmark’s weather, publishing, broadcasting, interactive and information businesses all have leading positions in their markets and have strong growth opportunities,” Landmark Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Batten Jr. said in a statement. “As we go through this process, we will continue to invest in these operations.”