They're all having the same problem, just not to this degree.
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Audacy Stock Trading Halted
- Thread starter JJSPC
- Start date
They're all having the same problem, just not to this degree.
David Field isn’t going to fire himself, that’s the thing.
Despite the optimistic language used by Audacy today, I saw this in InsideRadio:
The NYSE suspension comes one week after Audacy warned investors that it is adding “going concern” language to its annual financial report. That’s an accounting term used to identify whether a company is likely to survive the next year... The heads-up came during its first quarter 2023 results call in which the company reported plummeting earnings, rising expenses and an ad slowdown showing no signs of abating...
During the earnings call, Audacy said it expects to begin negotiations with its lenders within the next one to two months, aiming for both relief from existing loan covenants and for an extension of its November 2024 term loan maturity. If the negotiations don’t pan out, Dan Day, Equity Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities says he expects the company will begin a financial restructuring process.
The Complete Article
The NYSE suspension comes one week after Audacy warned investors that it is adding “going concern” language to its annual financial report. That’s an accounting term used to identify whether a company is likely to survive the next year... The heads-up came during its first quarter 2023 results call in which the company reported plummeting earnings, rising expenses and an ad slowdown showing no signs of abating...
During the earnings call, Audacy said it expects to begin negotiations with its lenders within the next one to two months, aiming for both relief from existing loan covenants and for an extension of its November 2024 term loan maturity. If the negotiations don’t pan out, Dan Day, Equity Research Analyst at B. Riley Securities says he expects the company will begin a financial restructuring process.
The Complete Article
Good question. Why do people go to Vegas and put money on games with losing odds?
You said the company had lawyers and accountants. Sure, but weren't they all following the same Wall Street casino playbook?
BigA - “debt is dumb. cash is king...” is a quote from someone famous. Can’t recall who. LOL. $2B in debt. Seriously, how does a company reduce that down enough to get back on track? I am not sure anyone can turn this company around enough to warrant their effort, even if they walked away from everything they owe.
I don't know. How would anyone know?
Tibbs, in the context of debt, $2billion is nothing. Last I heard, iHeart still has $5 billion in debt. Comcast has $96 billion.
Radio companies need a revenue stream that isn't tied to :30 spots. That's all I know.
So true. I always tried to take new jobs when there was no downside... low rated stations, CPs for new stations, badly administered ones and new acquisitions.
On two occasions, I took positions where I thought there was an upside when there actually was not. In '72 I began consulting KWKW in LA, thinking it could do better but Arbitron deficiencies and bad coverage made that impossible. In '92 I went to KHJ, also in LA, and the move of the audience to FM and bad management made that impossible. My mistake was misjudging the situation.
We can surmise.
Every group is dealing with this. Those with lesser debt are doing somewhat better, but all are off.
About the only bright scenario is Townsquare, but they now get over half their revenue from non-broadcast... and that area has covered the decline in broadcast income.
iHeart already dealt with the issues, and is pushing hard into new media. Univision consolidated with Televisa and pushed all their capital into new media internationally. Entravision moved so far into new media that radio and TV are now becoming a small part of the company.
Based on what? Do you have names? No.
This is how conspiracy theories begin. People make stuff up.
And Lord knows some on this site love making stuff up.
I don't see, unless this is an Enron look-alike, how this can be a conspiracy.
Business is, in fact, rather simple. You try to have greater income than your expenses no matter what field you are in.
To do that, it requires elements of knowledge, talent, skills and labor. Just like a soccer game has rules and it is not always easy to win, business has laws and requires skill to make money.
And like touching the ball with your hands in soccer, there can be attempts to cheat. Most people play fair and by the rules. Cheaters get found out and sanctioned.
There may be errors of judgement in the Audacy case. They may not have anticipated the pandemic and the recession or the impact of streaming. They may not have been as good as they thought they were, and their lenders believed they could do what they promised.
Johnson & Johnson did not know talcum powder was dangerous. 3M did not know that its military hearing aids were dangerous. Hohns-Manville did not know asbestos caused cancer. S--t happens. But, generally, there is no conspiracy there or in the case of Audacy. Just lack of knowledge.
I don't see anyone suggesting malfeasance in the CBS - Entercom merge. However, incompetence led to the debt crisis. How naive is David Field? He knew CBS wanted out of the Radio business long ago. Why would they leave if the potential was lucrative? They knew the reality of the industry. Field must have used a 1993 business plan...
CBS did not want out of the radio business; the Redstones did. They saw slow growth businesses, even if they were "cash cows" and fully amortized, as detriments. They wanted to take the money and put it in businesses with greater growth.
Entercom thought that the savings from consolidation and their successful radio history could improve the CBS radio group, which admittedly was very expensively top-heavy. That did not work, for some very obvious reasons.
CBS was top-heavy. When Entercom took over, they began cutting the "weight" almost immediately, perhaps without taking into account the expensive people they showed the door were responsible for CBS being a "cash cow" in the first place.
It's a bit like if someone who owned a bunch of successful McDonald's franchises bought up Gordon Ramsey's restaurant business and said "hey, we're paying all these 'chefs' way too much, and we're wasting money on all this expensive product. Let's run these like I run my McDonald's and we'll make even more money!"
Actually Les Moonves did. He had absolutely no interest in radio, and spoke about it often.
Les Moonves Again Hints At CBS Selling Stations
Update 9/18: At a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference yesterday, CBS President/CEO Les Moonves once again discussed CBS trimming
radioinsight.com
It's partly why Dan Mason left in 2015. It was his pet project and got it done before his own personal scandal hit him.
And who did he report to? The whole Redstone play was growth, father and daughter.
When your direct report is directly supported by the controlling shareholders, where do you see a future?
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