• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, March 5, 2007

The $1.6 billion-dollar acquisition of the Reader's Digest Association by Ripplewood Holdings has been completed, the companies announced Friday. Effective immediately, President-CEO Eric W. Schrier is stepping down and will be replaced in both capacities by Mary Berner--for the last six years the head of Fairchild Publications, a division of Conde Nast.

In her new role, Berner will also be responsible for two portfolio companies, WRC Media and Direct Holdings U.S. Corp., already owned by Ripplewood. The company plans to integrate all three holdings under the Reader's Digest brand.

The announcement marks the end of 17 years as a publicly traded company for Reader's Digest. The company's Wall Street acronym, RDA, will be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange. The Ripplewood-RDA deal is representative of a recent push toward private ownership at some of the nation's largest media companies--but RDA is one of the few aspirants to see the process through to the end.

The Tribune Company put itself up for sale in November 2006, but the auction failed to generate much interest among private equity bidders and other media groups. Several bids from private equity consortia were dismissed as too low. Tribune has also turned down proposals from several high-profile billionaires, including a $2 billion deal for the Los Angeles Times from David Geffen and a separate inquiry from Eli Broad, a philanthropist and the founder of insurer SunAmerica, and supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle. Recent reports suggest the Tribune board is seriously considering an expensive re-capitalization program independent of outside investors.

Meanwhile, a proposed $13 billion deal to take Clear Channel Communications private is still up in the air, with no guarantee that shareholders will approve the plan. Some dissenting shareholders have proposed alternate schemes to raise share prices during the sale, including spinning off Clear Channel Outdoor. For now the CCC board appears to be standing firm: in a letter to shareholders made public Friday, board reps urged shareholders to approve the deal as presented at the annual shareholder meeting on March 21st.