24/7 Wall St.

American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AM) has surrendered to the fact that the age of the paper card are over. The company never created a business online to make up for its disappearing business. The family that founded it will take American Greetings private. The company announced:

Under the agreement, American Greetings Class A and Class B shareholders, excluding the Weiss Family and related entities, will receive $18.20 per share in cash, and, if declared by the Board of Directors, one regular quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share declared and payable in a manner consistent with the Company’s past practice.  If the transaction closed in July 2013, the targeted closing date, the total cash amount shareholders would receive would be $18.35 per share.  The total value of the transaction is approximately $878 million, including the assumption of the Company’s 7⅜% notes due 2021, which will remain outstanding after the transaction, the repayment of borrowings under the company’s revolving credit facility and the settlement of stock options not held by the Weiss Family.

For a dying business, shareholders got a good price.