Meanwhile in the music world: Radio giant iHeartMedia will soon be joining Toys R Us in bankruptcy

Mavaxis Starburner

I love SBM
Joined
May 14, 2011
Messages
1,925
Likes
3,448
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/its-no-longer-about-if-iheartmedia-will-fail-but-when/
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/amid-cumulus-bankruptcy-rival-iheartmedias-financial-situation-is-even-more-dire/


iHeartMedia is the biggest radio station owner in America, and continues to paint a very bleak picture of its ability to do business moving forward, calling into question the legitimacy of the entire radio industry in an ever-changing media market. Known for years as ClearChannel, the company first warned investors about its impending financial doom in April, spelling out the dubious words in business about having doubt they would continue to be “a going concern” in 12 months.

Last week, iHeartMedia updated their financials again, posting a $248 million-dollar loss for Q3. This is compared to a $35 million loss the company posted in the same quarter of 2016—an increase in loss of over 600%. Previously, the biggest issue looming for iHeartMedia was its massive debt, which now totals over $8.4 billion. But revenue remained somewhat promising. However in the last quarter, revenue dropped from $1.57 billion in 2016, to $1.54 billion in 2017.

“There is substantial doubt as to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following November 8, 2017,” the company said in a statement, again uttering that dubious “going concern” phrase.

The company also says it has concerns, “the impact of our substantial indebtedness, including the effect of our leverage on our financial position and earnings [and] our ability to generate sufficient cash from operations and liquidity-generating transactions and our need to allocate significant amounts of our cash to make payments on our indebtedness . . . could reduce our financial flexibility and ability to fund other activities.”

This means that not only is iHeartMedia hemorrhaging money, it doesn’t have the financial flexibility to do anything about it by launching new initiatives or advertising campaigns, or otherwise restructuring a way out of its fate. iHeartMedia has been weighing heavily on its iHeartMedia app as a way for the company to move forward, and using their iHeartMedia festivals with huge names in pop and country to help promote the app. However this strategy has not helped convert the company from a terrestrial model to a technology company in any substantial way. Even though the iHeartMedia app remains popular, like all streaming companies, how to monetize it remains an issue.

The company disclosed that it has $285.4 million in cash, but with over $8 billion due in debt in the coming months and years, this is a penance for what the company would need to sustain moving forward. Their stock value, which dropped by 54% after the recent earnings news and went under the crucial $1.00 range, is now trading at $0.90, making it eligible for delisting on the exchange. It’s not a question of “if” iHeartMedia will fail, but “when.” And what American radio will look like afterwards.
These two articles are from late last year, but as the time bomb of iHeart's existence has been counting down ever since, I figure it would be useful to spread the news here, what with us already talking about companies going bankrupt. I know this won't affect anyone as hard as the Toys R Us shutdown, but I, as a music lover, am quite intrigued to see how radio stations get by after iHeart implodes (especially country radio).

EDIT: Update - iHeart's time just came. http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/15/media/iheartmedia-bankruptcy/index.html
 

dmandaboi

I love SBM
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
1,848
Likes
1,739
Location
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
Well shoot man...

My mom's been listening to nothing but this station for the past few years. I've heard the company name over and over again. Just the thought of them going bankrupt is pretty shocking, even though I don't really care for them that much. I wonder what my mom will listen to now. At least she'll know how I felt when I lost GSN on the television and had to find something else to watch (P.S. I never did).
 

OWM

XD
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
1,765
Likes
3,455
Location
XD
I hear advertisements for them all the time on my local radio. They always gave off a real desperate vibe so I'm not surprised they're shutting down too. Plus, no one uses them. :p
 
Back
Top