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Audacy stock price

is Audacy (FKA Entercom) the only one of the big 3 in US Radio to not file for bankruptcy yet. i know iHeartMedia and Cumulus already had filed Ch. 11 and recovered.
 
not the first time, the previous times as ETM the Fields family bought stock back to raise the price, they could also do a reverse split.
 
If I recall, Entercom was always probably the healthiest of the major broadcasting companies over the past decade and seemed to make pretty solid/strategic decisions.

The problem is with the CBS purchase came a lot of stations in addition to what Entercom had with high overhead and pretty large payrolls. From what I have read over the years, CBS Radio was not exactly a lean company. Entercom got a lot of good stations, but they also got a lot of expenses.

I don’t think they’ll be delisted or file chapter 11 soon, but I do see more cuts coming and a rush for a more nationalized platform like iHeart has. Problem is, iHeart has been working on said platform for almost 20 years.
 
The problem is with the CBS purchase came a lot of stations in addition to what Entercom had with high overhead and pretty large payrolls. From what I have read over the years, CBS Radio was not exactly a lean company. Entercom got a lot of good stations, but they also got a lot of expenses.
In particular, they got a bunch of aging and expensive AM stations with formats that most people under 50 don't use, whether over the air or online.
 
The quickest way to lose money in the radio business is to overpay when you are buying. Entercom (like so many others) fell victim to that trap.
 
The quickest way to lose money in the radio business is to overpay when you are buying. Entercom (like so many others) fell victim to that trap.

That line of thinking ignores the pandemic. Audacy was doing fine, turning $1.7 billion a year in revenues, and then the pandemic hit. They quickly lost more than half of that. Their debt payments didn't account for a 100 year pandemic and the resulting recession. Last year was a slight improvement to $1.2 billion. But the first half of 2022 is trending lower. The advertising hole we're in now is the worst one I can remember. It's killing a lot of media companies.
 
That line of thinking ignores the pandemic. Audacy was doing fine, turning $1.7 billion a year in revenues, and then the pandemic hit. They quickly lost more than half of that. Their debt payments didn't account for a 100 year pandemic and the resulting recession. Last year was a slight improvement to $1.2 billion. But the first half of 2022 is trending lower. The advertising hole we're in now is the worst one I can remember. It's killing a lot of media companies.
A lot of the stuff that gets advertised on the radio is discretionary spending - often big ticket items like cars and home improvements, alongside smaller optional items like restaurants on local stations. This is the stuff people cut back on when their salary stops covering the bills. When energy has gone up as much as it has, with predictions of even worse increases this winter, people aren't going to say "now's the time to buy that new Nissan on finance". Everyone but the very wealthy is in hunkering-down and saving mode.

Personally, I'm enjoying the radio we have while we still have it - because the headwinds are too strong and I don't think a lot of the current stations will be here in their current form in 18-24 months, barring an economic miracle. I hate to coin this awful overused phrase, but the demographic, economic and technological issues facing traditional broadcast radio are something of a "perfect storm".
 
Personally, I'm enjoying the radio we have while we still have it - because the headwinds are too strong and I don't think a lot of the current stations will be here in their current form in 18-24 months, barring an economic miracle. I hate to coin this awful overused phrase, but the demographic, economic and technological issues facing traditional broadcast radio are something of a "perfect storm".
And one could argue that storm started forming in 1996 and big waves flipped the boat over in 2008. Prior to the recession, groups were paying ridiculous 15X cash flow for stations, including AM. Now many are standing in the median between lanes with a cardboard sign that reads: "AM station owner, please help".
Radio never truly recovered from 08 and then, as BigA pointed out, they got hit with the pandemic. And if you think radio is the only form of media being crushed, Meta, Facebook's parent company has lost over 52% of its value this year alone. That's right, the darlings of new forms of media are feeling the pressure too. Radio has just been going through it longer than anyone else.
 
I hope Mr English got the amount in cash, because there is no way in hell I'd be doing it by way of equity in ETM or whatever they are called this week.
 
Audacy says quarterly earnings are up, and also note of possible NYSE delisting.


David Field's latest contract has his bonus tied to stock price, so this affects him directly.

The company missed its Q2 expectations:



There are several ways to present the same information.
 
David Field's latest contract has his bonus tied to stock price, so this affects him directly.
As I'm sure he has a substantial share of voting shares, so that makes sense. One doesn't make money from shares unless they sell them.
 
As I'm sure he has a substantial share of voting shares, so that makes sense. One doesn't make money from shares unless they sell them.

His father, the founder of Entercom, also has a big stake. Imagine having your father pound you about stock price.
 
I wonder if Mr. Field will be willing to chop more of these alternative stations that are floundering. It’s known that is his favorite format and he was behind the big “Alt” push starting in 2017.

Then again, I’m not sure if there are any more viable options for the “Alt” stations that may not be doing that well (Miami, Detroit, etc).
 
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