FIRST ON FOX – Media mogul Soohyung Kim filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the Federal Communications Commission of derailing an $8.6 billion deal to purchase Tegna Inc. because of racial discrimination because he was not the "right type of minority" for the FCC’s diversity goals.
"I am suing the FCC because they need to be held accountable for racially discriminating against me. The disparate and unfair treatment in my case is undeniable and unnecessarily divisive. Every person appearing before the FCC deserves to be treated equitably," Kim told Fox News Digital.
Kim, a Korean American raised in New York, and his company, Standard General, won a public bidding auction to buy Tegna and its 60-plus television stations in 2022. Kim claims he was set to install a female chief executive and the "transaction was poised to be a historic leap forward for both minority ownership and female leadership of broadcast stations" until the FCC nixed the deal in favor of Black media tycoon Byron Allen.
"The FCC killed the deal… motivated by the belief that Mr. Allen’s black-owned company deserved greater solicitude than Mr. Kim’s Asian American-owned company," the 120-page complaint, filed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., stated.
"The FCC makes no secret about the role race plays in its decisions. Race is a factor in deciding whether to approve broadcast license transfers. The FCC tracks broadcast ownership by the race of broadcast owners," Kim’s lawyers wrote in the complaint before noting that the FCC recently reported to Congress that "advancing equity" is core to the agency’s management and policymaking processes.
"In this case, ‘advancing equity’ meant killing the chance for a Korean American, Soo Kim, to buy TEGNA’s more than 60 television stations because Byron Allen wanted them for his Black-owned media company. As far as the FCC’s diversity policies and practices were concerned, being Asian did not count. Mr. Kim’s race was used against him with pernicious stereotypes," Kim’s lawyers wrote.
"As for Mr. Allen, he never had a problem getting the FCC to quickly approve his license applications for his Black-owned media company – the right kind of diversity, according to Mr. Allen. In the years leading up to the TEGNA deal, the FCC quickly approved multi-billion-dollar deals where Mr. Allen’s company would benefit by taking some stations. But Mr. Allen wasn’t getting any stations in the TEGNA deal. As a result, the FCC dealt Mr. Kim and his company, Standard General, an entirely different hand than Mr. Allen," the complaint stated.
"Objectors, organized by Mr. Allen and allies, parroted Mr. Allen’s widely publicized views that diversity for an Asian American-owned company like Mr. Kim’s was ‘sham’ diversity. They said the deal did ‘nothing’ to advance diversity in broadcast ownership," the complaint continued. "FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, under the thumb of high-ranking Democrats in Congress, went along with it. Chairwoman Rosenworcel had her staffer kill the deal with a pocket veto without ever putting it before the other Senate confirmed FCC commissioners."
Kim’s lawyers believe the FCC violated "the twin commands" of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equality that states "race may never be used as a ‘negative’ and that it may not operate as a stereotype" because he was painted as a "shadowy foreign investor."
"He was not the ‘right type of minority’ for the FCC’s diversity goals," the complaint stated.
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The complaint stated that Kim’s planned purchase "would have created tremendous value" for Tegna shareholders" by paying a $24-per-share premium for a company that traded as low as $10 per share when bidding began in early 2020. It would have also "offered significant benefits to employees, guaranteeing three years’ job security to newsroom staff and increases to newsroom budgets," according to the complaint.
Kim accused the FCC of dragging its feet by taking over 300 days to take action on Standard General’s license-transfer applications for the Tegna stations before the deal was "killed" without notice.
"Standard General was one of the largest shareholders, losing nearly $85 million based on its 10.6 million shares owned when the deal died," the complaint said. "The FCC chairwoman and her personal staffer blocked the deal at the behest of Mr. Allen, who used business allies and six-figure political donations to destroy Mr. Kim’s chances of acquiring TEGNA – to the tune of over $200 million in losses to Standard General and Mr. Kim and nearly $2 billion in losses to TEGNA shareholders."
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The lengthy filing details Kim’s complaints, including claims that high-powered Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., favored "longtime Democrat donor" Allen.
"Race was a negative for Korean American Soo Kim, but it always seemed to work as a positive for Byron Allen," the complaint said.
Kim is seeking "punitive damages to the fullest extent permitted by law," along with attorneys’ fees, and a jury trial.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Allen Media Group owns TheGrio and The Weather Channel, among other media outlets. Last month, Allen’s media group made an all-cash offer for Tegna, Variety reported in a story posted on Allen’s website.
Allen Media Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
