American Broadcasting Company a proposal for UPT to purchase ABC. Noble received other offers, including one from CBS founder William S. Paley; however, a merger with CBS would have forced that network to sell its New York City and Los Angeles stations at the very least. Goldenson and Noble reached a tentative agreement in the late spring of 1951 in which UPT would acquire ABC and turn it into a subsidiary of the company that would retain autonomy in its management. On June 6, 1951, the tentative agreement was approved by UPT's board of directors. However, the transaction had to be approved by
Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. absorb that much equity; either one of them must back down or prices would suffer severely. DeBartolo agreed to withdraw. In April, 1994, most of the properties owned by The Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation were transferred to DeBartolo Realty Corporation, a public REIT, in its initial public offering. The new company was chaired by Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.; DeBartolo Sr. was unwilling to deal personally with the constraints of running a public company. In 1996, DeBartolo Realty Corporation was acquired by Simon Property Group, the public REIT formed by DeBartolo's longtime competitors, Melvin and Herbert Simon. DeBartolo's contributions to the