• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 3, 2009

Two years after Hearst Corp. looked to take station group Hearst-Argyle private by offering stockholders $23.50 a share to buy them out, it has finally succeeded. The cost? $4.50 a share. The merger is expected to be completed in a few days.

Hearst Corp. ran into opposition in 2007 with the $23.50 offer as some board members felt it was too low. Now, the sprawling media company -- which already owned 82% of the station group -- has capitalized on the economic troubles facing the local TV business. It has acquired almost all the shares it did not control, allowing it to pull the station group off the market. Hearst-Argyle CEO David Barrett said in March that the group's stock price was "unimaginably low."

Hearst Corp., which also owns Cosmopolitan and The Houston Chronicle, had originally made an offer this spring to buy shareholders out at $4 a share. It later upped its bid to $4.50 hoping to ensure the acquisition. Technically, enough shareholders accepted its offer by Tuesday to give it an approximate 96% position, which will allow the privatization.

Hearst-Argyle operates 29 stations in markets from Boston to Sacramento; it will now have its name changed to Hearst Television. Hearst's TV business merged with Argyle Television in 1997 to create the company, one of the country's 10 largest station groups.

Last year, Hearst-Argyle saw revenues fall nearly 5% to $720.5 million, even with record political dollars and the Beijing Olympics on 10 of its stations.