For Lopez Holdings, It May Be Time to Sell ABS-CBN
With ABS-CBN absent from consolidated book value and Federico “Piki” Lopez firmly in charge of the listed company, the case for monetizing the media investment is getting harder to ignore.
Lopez Holdings Corporation has spent years absorbing losses from ABS-CBN Corporation. Now that the media investment has been reduced to zero in the holding company’s consolidated accounts, the question facing the company is no longer how much more pain it can endure.
It is how much value can still be recovered before potential buyers lose interest.
That question has acquired fresh urgency after Federico “Piki” Lopez strengthened his position at the listed holding company. Following its September 14, 2026 annual meeting, Federico “Piki” Lopez remained chairman and chief executive, while his brother, Benjamin “Jay” Lopez, became president, chief operating officer and chief finance officer. Three of the company’s seven board seats are now occupied by Federico “Piki” Lopez and two siblings, giving that family branch a powerful voice over the direction of the publicly traded company.
The new leadership configuration offers an opportunity to finish an economic transformation already visible in the financial statements. Lopez Holdings Corporation has become, for most practical purposes, a power, property and infrastructure holding company centered on its 60.67% ownership of First Philippine Holdings Corporation. The media investment remains economically attached to the group, but its consolidated accounting value is gone.
A sale of the ABS-CBN Corporation interest would turn that accounting reality into a strategic one.
The Book Value Is Gone
At the end of 2025, the ABS-CBN Corporation investment carried a value of zero in the consolidated accounts of Lopez Holdings Corporation.
The arithmetic reflects years of accumulated losses. The investment began with a cost of ₱5.779 billion. That was offset by ₱6.341 billion of accumulated equity share in losses, with ₱562 million of accumulated equity adjustments in other comprehensive income bringing the net consolidated carrying amount to zero. The company also disclosed ₱2.351 billion in unrecognized equity-method losses at the end of 2025, compared with ₱939 million a year earlier.
The accounting result is important. Once an investor’s share of an associate’s losses has reduced its interest to zero, it ordinarily stops recognizing further losses unless it has incurred legal or constructive obligations, or made payments on behalf of the associate. If the associate later becomes profitable, the investor resumes recognizing earnings only after its share of profits catches up with previously unrecognized losses. That is the policy expressly described in the audited accounts of Lopez Holdings Corporation.
This means the listed holding company has already absorbed the maximum routine equity-method charge available against the investment. Continuing losses at ABS-CBN Corporation generally no longer reduce the consolidated earnings of Lopez Holdings Corporation.
But that does not make holding the investment costless.
Every additional loss can weaken the underlying company, diminish negotiating leverage, increase refinancing pressure and make a future recovery more difficult. A zero carrying value protects the income statement from routine equity-method losses. It does not protect the economic value of the asset from further deterioration.
The Window for a Sale May Not Stay Open
The case for selling rests on a straightforward proposition: an asset can retain strategic value long after its accounting value has reached zero.
ABS-CBN Corporation still has well-known entertainment and news brands, production infrastructure, a substantial program library, digital distribution channels and relationships with broadcasters, advertisers, talent and streaming platforms. The 2025 annual report said that ABS-CBN Entertainment’s YouTube channel reached 54.5 million subscribers and generated 72.4 billion views during the year. Its affiliated Facebook pages collectively reached 300 million followers as of January 23, 2026.
Those audiences could appeal to a strategic investor seeking Philippine content, an established digital following or a production platform without having to build one from scratch.
The problem is that strategic relevance can decay. Talent contracts expire. Audiences migrate. Libraries become less valuable if they are under-monetized. Distribution partnerships can change, as shown by the termination of ABS-CBN Corporation’s content-supply agreement with TV5 Network, Inc. effective January 2, 2026. Although the company has continued distributing content through Advanced Media Broadcasting System Inc., GMA Network, Inc. and online platforms, its negotiating position ultimately depends on its ability to finance and produce content audiences want.
Waiting for a full turnaround could produce a higher valuation. Waiting could also leave less to sell.
That makes a competitive strategic review preferable to an indefinite holding period. Lopez Holdings Corporation and the relevant Lopez entities could invite proposals for the entire economic interest, a minority investment, a content-library partnership or an asset-backed recapitalization. The objective should be price discovery rather than a distressed sale to the first bidder.
A Sale Would Not Be Pure Accounting Profit
There is, however, an important correction to the idea that the entire proceeds would automatically become a gain for Lopez Holdings Corporation.
The investment’s consolidated carrying value is zero, but the group has accumulated unrecognized losses associated with it. Those suspended losses may have to be considered in accounting for a disposal. The exact gain would depend on the transaction structure, whether significant influence is lost, which entity sells the instruments or underlying shares, the treatment of accumulated other comprehensive income, transaction costs, and the application of the relevant equity-method disposal rules.
Therefore, the gain cannot be assumed to equal the gross sale proceeds peso for peso.
The separate parent-company accounts introduce another distinction. While the consolidated carrying amount was zero, the stand-alone parent-company financial statements carried the ABS-CBN Corporation PDR investment at ₱2.226 billion at December 31, 2025, representing the ₱5.779 billion cost less a ₱3.553 billion impairment allowance. A sale above or below that amount would have a different effect in the parent-only accounts than in the consolidated statements.
The stronger argument for a sale is therefore not that all proceeds would necessarily become reported profit. It is that a transaction could convert an illiquid, non-dividend-paying economic interest with zero consolidated carrying value into cash or investments that can support the group’s core businesses.
ABS-CBN Corporation has not declared dividends since 2020, while Lopez Holdings Corporation received ₱567 million of annual cash dividends from First Philippine Holdings Corporation in each of 2023, 2024, and 2025. The company could apply capital recovered from the media investment to dividends, share repurchases, renewable-energy projects, or other assets capable of producing cash returns.
Control Is More Complicated Than Ownership
The leadership change at the listed holding company doesn’t mean Federico “Piki” Lopez can simply order the underlying ABS-CBN Corporation shares sold.
Lopez Holdings Corporation holds its 53.55% economic interest through Philippine Depositary Receipts issued by Lopez, Inc.. The PDRs don’t give the listed company voting rights over the underlying shares before exercise. As of April 10, 2026, the common and preferred shares remained owned and registered in the name of Lopez, Inc., which retained the power to vote them.
Recent reporting similarly noted that control of the Lopez Holdings Corporation board does not give Federico “Piki” Lopez control over the votes attached to the underlying ABS-CBN Corporation shares. The listed company owns the economic interest, but the private family holding company exercises the votes.
A disposal would therefore require careful coordination among Lopez Holdings Corporation, Lopez, Inc., their boards, the PDR holders and potentially ABS-CBN Corporation and its lenders. Regulatory restrictions, foreign-ownership limitations, related-party rules and shareholder approvals could also affect the structure.
That complexity is an argument for beginning a formal process, not for avoiding one.
A Family Dispute Points to a Capital-Allocation Choice
The divide inside the Lopez family has already exposed the larger capital-allocation question.
A dispute emerged earlier in 2026 over a proposed ₱2 billion capital infusion into ABS-CBN Corporation from the reserves of Lopez, Inc.. Court filings described by the press said Federico “Piki” Lopez and Benjamin “Jay” Lopez opposed the proposal, citing unresolved audit concerns, while other family branches supported additional assistance to the media company. The dispute contributed to an attempted leadership change at the private family holding company and ensuing court proceedings.
Whatever the merits of the competing allegations, the dispute reflects two divergent strategies.
One strategy is to commit more family capital to preserve a legacy asset in the hope of a turnaround. The other is to protect the power and infrastructure companies from further calls on their resources and require the media business to find external capital, strategic partners or a buyer.
For outside shareholders of Lopez Holdings Corporation, the second approach may be easier to defend. The listed company has institutional and minority investors whose interests don’t necessarily coincide with preserving family control of a media institution at any price. Federico “Piki” Lopez has publicly emphasized fiduciary duties to shareholders, particularly at First Philippine Holdings Corporation and First Gen Corporation, which have significant institutional minority ownership.
Sell, but Don’t Conduct a Fire Sale
The right conclusion isn’t that Lopez Holdings Corporation should dump its interest at any available price.
A rushed sale could transfer most of the turnaround value to the buyer. A poorly structured transaction could trigger tax, accounting or governance complications. A buyer might also demand control rights that Lopez Holdings Corporation alone cannot deliver under the current PDR structure.
The company should instead seek an orderly auction or strategic-partner process with clear objectives:
Establish independent valuation ranges for the content library, brands, digital audiences, production capabilities and remaining operating businesses.
Resolve the PDR and voting-right structure with Lopez, Inc. before soliciting binding offers.
Invite strategic rather than purely financial bidders, particularly companies able to distribute and monetize content.
Compare a full exit with partial-sale alternatives, including a minority placement, joint venture or content-asset transaction.
Ring-fence the power group, ensuring that no deal creates new obligations for First Philippine Holdings Corporation or First Gen Corporation.
Clearly disclose the accounting consequences, including the treatment of the ₱2.351 billion of unrecognized losses and the different carrying values in the consolidated and parent-only accounts.
The worst outcome would be drift: providing enough support to keep the investment alive, but not enough to restore it, while its remaining strategic value gradually declines.
The Value of Letting Go
Lopez Holdings Corporation has already changed economically. Its revenue, operating profit, and dividend stream now come overwhelmingly from power, property, and infrastructure. Its ABS-CBN Corporation investment contributes no consolidated book value and no dividends.
Selling would merely make the corporate structure catch up with the financial statements.
There may never be a perfect moment. A seller generally wants to wait for improving results, while a buyer wants to act before the improvement is reflected in the price. But a zero consolidated carrying value, continuing unrecognized losses, and visible strategic interest in Philippine media assets create a reason to test the market now.
The Lopez family built ABS-CBN Corporation into a national institution. That history deserves respect, but it doesn’t eliminate the obligation to allocate capital rationally.
For Federico “Piki” Lopez and the new leadership of Lopez Holdings Corporation, the most consequential decision may be whether to keep financing the past or monetize what remains of it to fund the future.
The television investment has already disappeared from consolidated book value. The danger is waiting until it disappears from buyers’ calculations as well.
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Disclaimer: This is for informational purposes and is not investment advice. Figures come from company disclosures and exchange data; valuation ratios reflect the author’s calculations based on cited inputs.