SHOW BUSINESS: RKO Approves a Deal

The board of directors of RKO met last week to take up the surprising offer of Multimillionaire Howard Hughes to buy out the corporation's stockholders. With Hughes and Noah Dietrich. No. 2 man in the Hughes empire, absent, the board voted to accept the offer, called a special meeting of stockholders to vote on the proposal March 18, about two weeks before the deadline set by Hughes.

There seemed little doubt that the stockholders would approve Hughes's offer to buy out the company's assets for $23,489,478, equal to $6 a share for stock that was selling at only 2⅞ when the offer was announced. Since Hughes already owns 1,262,120 shares, the out-of-pocket cost to him if all stockholders accept his offer would be $15,916,758. This week, after heavy trading that totaled 820,100 shares, the stock closed at 5⅝.