Opinion ID: 790574
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The News Corp./Chris-Craft Merger

Text: 4 On August 13, 2000, News Corp. entered into a merger agreement to acquire Chris-Craft, thereby adding Chris-Craft's ten television stations, including WWOR, to News Corp.'s holdings. The acquired stations were to be operated by News Corp.'s subsidiary, Fox. Before the merger, Fox was represented in a number of broadcast markets also served by Chris-Craft stations. For example, in New York, Fox operated WNYW, commonly known as Fox 5. With the acquisition of Chris-Craft's stations, Fox would achieve a duopoly 2 in certain markets, including New York, from which it expected to realize both revenue gains and cost savings by consolidating various work functions of the formerly competing stations. 5 In the period preceding finalization of the merger, Fox reviewed information relating to the management of the Chris-Craft stations. To facilitate this process, Chris-Craft provided Fox with copies of its manager employment agreements, various labor agreements, personnel lists, and benefits information. Relying on these materials, Fox compiled a list of Chris-Craft employees to be terminated in anticipation of the formal merger. Woodman was one of these employees. Fox decided that the advertising sales departments of WWOR and WNYW would be consolidated and managed by its WNYW sales manager, Debbie von Ahrens, who was then 43 years old and had been a Fox employee for more than 12 years. 3