SFX Entertainment’s parent company, Clear Channel Communications has announced that it plans to buy up as much as $1 billion of the company’s common stock.

Clear Channel’s board authorized the program, which will take place over the next 12 months according to such criteria as the “stock price, general economic and market conditions and the status of the Company's ongoing acquisition strategy.” Clear Channel has said that the “repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time.”

In a prepared statement, Clear Channel chairman and CEO L. Lowry Mays said, "This action underscores our board's optimism about the company's continued success....We believe the purchase of our common stock represents an attractive opportunity to benefit the long term interests of the Company and its shareholders."

SFX was acquired by Clear Channel on Aug. 1. Clear Channel has also purchased radio broadcaster AMFM. The company now operates 1,106 radio and 19 television stations in the United States and has equity interests in over 240 radio stations internationally. Clear Channel also operates more than 750,000 outdoor advertising displays, including billboards, street furniture and transit panels across the world. After an aggressive acquisitions campaign in sports and entertainment, SFX Entertainment established an early lead in marketing “live experiential” events. SFX develops and manages touring Broadway shows, and sells Broadway subscription series and individual productions in 55 markets. An integrated franchise that promotes and produces a broad variety of live entertainment events locally, regionally and nationally, SFX has 122 venues overall, and owns or operates venues in 31 of the top 50 domestic markets.

-- By Murdoch McBride