Media General Inc

Boosting the ante for a newspaper-television empire by about $240 million, Hollywood television producer Burt Sugarman on Monday sweetened his merger offer for Media General by 14% to $70 a share, or nearly $2 billion. He said he might go higher still. Sugarman, who began with a $61.50-a-share offer Feb. 29, has $100 million invested in the Richmond, Va.-based firm. He owns 10% of its shares through two Los Angeles companies, Giant Group Ltd. and Barris Industries, which he controls.

A federal judge Wednesday threw out a key legal contention by Hollywood producer Burt Sugarman that all shareholders of Media General must vote as a single group on his $1.8-billion merger proposal for the family-controlled newspaper and television empire. Although U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams in Richmond, Va., did not dismiss six other counts in Sugarman's suit, Media General claimed a major victory in its fight against the unwelcome offer.

Hollywood producer Burt Sugarman, intensifying his bid to take over Media General, launched a legal attack Wednesday on the proxy statement put out by the management of the newspaper and television concern for its May 20 stockholder meeting. Sugarman's investment group asked a federal judge in Richmond, Va., to bar the voting of management's proxies at the meeting, at which he expects to contest the reelection of three directors. Media General Chairman D.

In an attempt to turn up the heat in his hostile takeover attempt, Hollywood producer-entrepreneur Burt Sugarman said Thursday that he has raised his stake in Media General to 10.1%. He also contended that, under the company's charter, the family that controls the smaller of Media General's two classes of stock could not block his $1.8-billion merger proposal. However, James S. Evans, president of the Richmond, Va.

Industrialist and Hollywood producer Burt Sugarman fired the opening salvo Monday in what may become a protracted battle for Media General, a family controlled newspaper and television empire based in Richmond, Va. Sugarman, who has already accumulated slightly less than 10% of Media General's publicly traded common stock, proposed a $1.8-billion merger with two public companies that he controls, Barris Industries Inc. and Giant Group Ltd. But he drew a quick rebuff.

A shareholder group led by a television game show producer said Monday that it had acquired a 9.8% stake in Media General and may seek control of the big newspaper and broadcasting company. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the group led by Barris Industries said it acquired 2.7 million Media General Class A common shares at a total cost of $108.3 million.