Hearst bought A&E to avoid selling at a low price, CEO says

Hearst bought out Disney's 50% stake in A&E Global Media because it was a better alternative than selling to a third party at "what would have been a really low price," president and CEO Steven Swartz told Axios at its annual Media Trends Live event in New York City on Tuesday.Why it matters: Hearst has the balance sheet to make such a move, but its CEO acknowledges that plans for the asset are still in the works. Hearst saw record revenue and profits last year, Axios previously reported.Catch up quick: The 139-year-old media giant bought out Disney's 50% stake in August for $1.2 billion in cash after co-owning the asset in a 50/50 split since 2012. Hearst co-founded A&E alongside ABC and Rockefeller Group's Entertainment Channel in 1984. Rockefeller sold its stake to Hearst, ABC and NBC in 1993. Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. NBCU exited its investment in 2012. Zoom in: Swartz said he thinks Disney "is very focused on what they're doing with Disney+" and came to the conclusion that the A&E networks "weren't going to fit in there.""So I think we jointly discussed that one of us should probably buy out the other, just to allow A&E to experiment more, and perhaps move a…

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