• by Wayne Friedman , November 16, 2020

Newsmax, a pay TV news network and digital platform, is being linked to investment and acquisition talks with Hicks Equity Partners, a private equity firm, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

Hicks is a hedge fund with ties to a co-chair of the Republican National Committee, allies of President Trump, according to reports. The move comes on the heels of the Presidential election.

The conservative-based news organization, located in West Palm Beach, Florida, did not respond to inquiries from Television News Daily by press time.

Commenting to The Wall Street Journal, Chris Ruddy, chief executive officer and majority owner of Newsmax, said: “Newsmax never had any deal with the Hicks group, and if it’s true they were using our name for the purposes of capital fundraising, that is wholly inappropriate.”

In May, reports surfaced that an investor group aligned with Donald Trump Jr. and the Hicks family had taken an investment position with One America News Network. Herring Networks, owner of OAAN, said the report in Vanity Fair was false, denying that any transaction had occurred.

OANN has around 25 million pay TV subscribers, according to estimates. Newsmax TV is projected to have roughly 35 million pay TV subscribers.

A story on Newsmax.com said that a day after the Presidential election -- November 4-- Newsmax TV drew a Nielsen-measured 287,000 average minute viewers from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., compared to CNBC with 285,000 viewers and Fox Business at 281,000.

In the past, President Trump has praised Newsmax TV and the One America News Network. Most recently, Trump has been critical of Fox News Channel, especially with regard to an early election-night projection showing Joe Biden would win the state of Arizona.

Biden is estimated to have collected 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232, giving Biden the victory in the Presidential race.