Shortly before the vote, Harbinger scored an important victory with the announcement by one of the company's biggest shareholders, Mario J. Gabelli, that he would support their candidates: J. Daniel Sullivan, a broadcast executive, F. Jack Liebau Jr., an investment manager, and Eugene I. Davis, a consultant who specializes in reviving struggling companies.
Harbinger also drummed up support from investment advisory firms.
While their election gives Harbinger a say in Media General's direction, neither the private-equity firm or other shareholders will be able to dictate strategy.
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Media General has a two-tiered voting structure that preserves the control of the company's historic owners, the Bryan family. The Bryan family owns Class B shares that elect six of the board's nine members; regular Class A shares, including Harbinger's and Gabelli's, elect the other three.
In mid-March, the private-equity firm reached a compromise with the Ochs-Sulzbergers, who control The New York Times Company--placing two Harbinger nominees on the NYTCO board of directors. Harbinger and its partner Firebrand had originally proposed a slate of four nominees.
The compromise also increased the size of the NYTCO board, from 13 to 15 directors. Like Media General, NYTCO has a two-tiered voting structure that preserves the Ochs-Sulzbergers' control of the company.