Standard General L.P. is an Americanhedge fund headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Soohyung "Soo" Kim and Nicholas Singer with seed capital from Reservoir Capital Group. Since 2013, Soo Kim has been the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer.^[1] Kim was named "American Executive of the Year" at the 2021 Global Gaming Awards.^[2]

Standard General L.P.

Company type	Hedge fund
Founded	2007; 18 years ago (2007)
Headquarters	New York City , US
Key people	Soo Kim
Website	standardgenerallp.com

Standard General L. P. is controlled by Standard General Management LLC which is controlled by Acme Amalgamated Holdings, LLC, which is ultimately controlled by Soohyung Kim.^[3]

Standard General was active in managing the bankruptcies ofAliante Casino and Hotel,American Apparel,^[4] Greektown,RadioShack^[5] andYoung Broadcasting.

As reported in the 2019 10K, Standard General L.P. is the largest shareholder ofBally's Corporation.

Standard General pursues a single strategy of opportunistic investing primarily in levered U.S. middle-market companies. The firm has the ability to invest across the capital structure but is better known for specializing in distressed debt. Since 2007, it has invested in both publicly traded and private entities and is known for making several control investments.

Standard General L.P. is the largest shareholder ofBally's Corporation, formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings. Soo Kim, Standard General's managing partner had been an independent director of the company since 2016 and was elected chairman of the board of directors in late 2019.^[6] Kim oversaw a major expansion of its operations, including a reverse merger with Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment to take Twin River public, and various casino acquisitions in 2020.^[7][8] It also acquired rights to theBally's brand fromCaesars Entertainment and adopted it as its corporate name, with an intent to unify all of its properties under the brand.^[9] The company also made moves to expand its focus onsports betting, including acquisitions in the field, and a partnership withSinclair Broadcast Group andEntertainment Studios to rebrand itsregional sports networks under theBally name as part of a promotion and content agreement.^[10][11][12]

In January 2022, Standard General offered to buy all outstanding shares in Bally's Corporation that it did not already own, valuing it at $2.07 billion.^[13]

MediaCo Holding Inc., “MediaCo” or the “Company”) is a multi-media company formed in Indiana in 2019, focused on television, radio and digital advertising, premium programming and events.^[14] On April 17, 2024, MediaCo entered into an asset purchase agreement with Estrella Broadcasting, Inc., and SLF LBI Aggregator, LLC, and affiliate of HPS Investment Partners, LLC, pursuant to which Purchaser purchased substantially all of the assets of Estrella and its subsidiaries (other than certain broadcast assets owned by Estrella and its subsidiaries, and assumed substantially all of the liabilities of Estrella and its subsidiaries.^[15]

The company’s assets consist of two radio stations located in New York City, WQHT(FM) and WBLS(FM), which serve the New York City demographic market area and primarily target Black, Hispanic, and multi-cultural consumers, and as a result of the Estrella Acquisition, Estrella’s network, content, digital, and commercial operations, including network affiliation and program supply agreements with Estrella for its 11 radio stations serving Los Angeles, CA, Houston, TX, and Dallas, TX and nine television stations serving Los Angeles, CA, Houston, TX, Denver, CO, and Miami, FL. Among the Estrella brands that joined MediaCo are the EstrellaTV network, its influential linear and digital video content business, Estrella’s expansive digital channels, including its four FAST channels - EstrellaTV, Estrella News, Cine EstrellaTV - and Estrella Games, and the EstrellaTV app.^[16]

As reported in the 2023 10K, Standard General is the largest shareholder in MediaCo Holding, Inc.^[17]

In April 2018, the divestiture of stations bySinclair Broadcasting during theTribune Media buyout opened an opportunity forStandard Media, subsidiary of Standard General, to purchase several of the stations. In the case of the stations in the Wilkes Barre, PA market, Sinclair is not the licensee of these stations and will only be selling the assets of such stations that Sinclair owns, together with its right to purchase the licenses of the stations.^[18] The deal fell through when the Sinclair-Tribune merger was terminated on August 9, 2018.

The stations that were to be purchased by Standard Media included:^[19]

Standard General became the majority owner ofYoung Broadcasting after its emergence fromchapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010.^[20] Young Broadcasting later merged withMedia General in November 2013.^[21] Following that merger, the combined Media General went on to merge withLIN Media, a transaction that would create the nation's eight largest television station group.^[22] On January 27, 2016, Media General was sold toNexstar Broadcasting Group.^[23] Standard General profited $300 millionUSD from the transaction. In recognition of this series of shareholder value-creating transactions, in May 2016, Gabelli Funds inducted Media General board member Soohyung Kim into the GAMCO Management Hall of Fame.^[24]

Aliante Casino and Hotel was developed by Station Casinos and the family-owned Greenspun Corp. In connection with Station's bankruptcy proceedings, lenders took control of Aliante in 2011. From 2011 to 2016, Standard General was the largest stakeholder of ALST Casino Holdco, the owner of the Aliante Casino and Hotel in North Las Vegas. Soohyung Kim served as the CEO of ALST Casino Holdco.^[25] In April 2016, Boyd Gaming agreed to purchase the ALST Casino Holdco LLC for total net cash consideration of $380 million.^[26]

In 2015,The New York Times described the firm as "the little-known hedge fund that is also leading the turnaround atRadioShack."^[27] In 2015, during RadioShack'sChapter 11 bankruptcy, Standard General formedGeneral Wireless (although unrelated, General Wireless was the original name forMetro by T-Mobile), to act as the owner and operator of the RadioShack brand and its assets. The new company partnered withSprint to create co-branded stores, with Sprint's name eventually becoming the primary brand on the exterior and selling both Sprint and RadioShack-branded products and services within.^[28] General Wireless filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 8, 2017,^[29] taking the RadioShack name through its second bankruptcy in two years. On June 12, 2017, General Wireless announced its intent to auction off the RadioShack name.^[30] In late July 2018, RadioShack partnered up withHobbyTown USA to open up around 100 RadioShack "Express" stores.^[31] In 2020, the assets were bought by Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures.^[32]

On February 22, 2022,Tegna Inc. announced that it had agreed to be taken private by a group led by Standard General andApollo Global Management for $24 per-share, valuing the company at $5.4 billion.^[33] The company, would retain the Tegna name, be controlled by an affiliate of Standard General, withStandard Media CEO Deb McDermott (who previously ledYoung Broadcasting andMedia General) becoming CEO. Affiliates of AGM, as well asCox Media Group (which is principally owned by AGM, withCox Enterprises as a minority shareholder) and other investors, would have held non-voting shares in the company. Tegna's digital advertising subsidiary Premion would be held as a standalone business between Standard and CMG. The sale included a clause that would have slowly increase the value that Standard and Apollo would pay per-share if the sale took longer than nine months to close.^[33][34][35]

The sale would have also resulted in the realignment of station holdings presently associated with both companies: Standard Media's four stationsWDKA,WLNE-TV,KBSI, andKLKN would be sold to Cox Media Group, which would then divest its Boston stationWFXT to Tegna and Standard General, and acquireWFAA/KMPX,KHOU/KTBU, andKVUE, from Tegna.^[33][34][35] In order to comply with FCC regulations, some stations would have been sold to other companies in six markets where both groups already owned stations (Atlanta,Charlotte,Jacksonville,Memphis,Seattle, andSpokane).

On March 30, 2022, Cox Media Group announced that it would sell 18 stations, namelyKLAX inAlexandria,WICZ inBinghamton,KIEM andKVIQ-LD inEureka,WABG,WNBD andWXVT inGreenwood,KPVI inIdaho Falls,KMVU andKFBI-LD inMedford,WHBQ inMemphis,KAYU inSpokane,WSYT inSyracuse,KOKI andKMYT inTulsa,KCYU-LD andKFFX inYakima andKYMA inYuma toImagicomm Communications—ashell company affiliated with the cable networkINSP—for an undisclosed amount.^{[36][37][38][39]}

The sale was approved by Standard General and Apollo Global Management on May 17, 2022.^[40] The sale was completed on August 1, 2022.^[41]

On October 6, 2022, the Chair of theHouse Energy and Commerce CommitteeFrank Pallone andSpeaker of the HouseNancy Pelosi issued a letter to the FCC expressing concerns for the transaction, arguing that it "would violate the FCC's mandate by restricting access to local news coverage, cutting jobs at local television stations, and raising prices on consumers." They specifically cited statements by Standard General regarding plans for a Washington, D.C. bureau to produce content for local newscasts, and arguing that Tegna's stations had "too many employees". Standard General responded to the letter, denying that they planned to cut jobs or hub content, and promoting that Tegna would become the largest female-run and minority-owned broadcaster in the United States. They also responded to objections byNewsGuild-CWA describing Standard General as "backed by anonymous investors located in the Cayman Islands", stating that the entirety of its board is represented by U.S. interests.^[42]

On February 24, 2023, it was confirmed that FCC staff referred the deal to anadministrative law judge, which the FCC Commissioner's Board voted to remand the merger review toward on May 22.^[43] The deal was terminated on May 22, 2023.^[44]

In 2016 Standard General L.P. was the recipient of the New York City Comptroller's Office Diverse Practitioner Award.^[45]