Quebecor reportedly made an offer to buy struggling Corus Entertainment, but the media company apparently isn’t engaging with the offer.
According to sources who spoke with The Globe and Mail, Quebecor representatives met with Corus executive chair Heather Shaw six months ago. Then several weeks ago, Quebecor made a purchase offer but the Globe’s source said Corus hasn’t responded.
The source didn’t share the specifics of the deal or details about how it would be structured.
A spokesperson for Cous told the Globe that the company doesn’t “comment on rumours or speculation,” while a spokesperson for Quebecor said the company doesn’t comment “on potential acquisitions.”
The offer comes as Corus faces a debt crisis. Bankers recently extended the company’s deadline, giving it until October 15th to resolve the crisis. The company carries over $1 billion in debt and has been cutting costs, including cutting 25 percent of its workforce.
In June, Corus learned that Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn’t renew its Canadian rights to popular specialty channels like HGTV and Food Network, with rival Rogers winning the rights to that content instead. The following month, Corus complained in a filing to the CRTC that Rogers was putting it and other independent media companies at an unfair disadvantage.
The Shaw family, which owns a class of Corus shares granting them over 80 percent voting control of the company, sold their cable and internet company of the same name to Rogers for $20 billion in 2023. As part of that deal, Quebecor scooped up Freedom Mobile.
Header image credit: Shutterstock
Source: The Globe and Mail
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