My newspaper column
In 1964, Frank Batten Sr. owned two newspapers in Norfolk, Va., and was focused on buying the Greensboro Daily News, The Greensboro Record and WFMY from the Jeffress family.
Batten, who went on to build a billion-dollar media company -- Landmark Communications, which now includes dozens of newspapers, two television stations and the Weather Channel -- said it wasn't exactly a standard transaction.
As he recounts in his 2002 book, "The Weather Channel: the Improbable Rise of a Media Phenomenon," the deal hinged more on personal values than market values.
"We reached a verbal understanding with the owners, and both parties signed their names to a one-page agreement. About a week later, another qualified buyer offered to pay several million dollars more than our agreed-upon price.
"Even though our one-page agreement would never have survived in court, the owners honored it, and we acquired the papers and station at the original price. I like to think that Landmark would have behaved in exactly the same way had our roles been reversed."