Court Stroud, writing for Media Life:
And it has glam, lots of glam. Look no further than the iHeartRadio Music Festival and other live events that draw thousands upon thousands of celebrants and endless media excitement.
But for all that glam, iHeart is a deeply troubled company. In fact, iHeartMedia is teetering on collapse. It’s not a question of whether it collapses but when, and it’s likely to come sooner rather than later. It could be within months.
What’s going to sink iHeart is its huge debt, some $21 billion. That’s more than the entire radio industry generates in ad dollars in a given year, and it’s a debt iHeart appears to have zero prospects of paying off.
As of June 3, 2015, its stock was valued at $7.50; yesterday it closed at $1.01.
Wow. I had no idea. iHeartMedia is a massive company. Internet radio platform iHeartRadio is just one piece of the puzzle. It’d be sad to see this fall apart.
Formerly Clear Channel. May they die in a fire.
Unless it is through litigation awards, a $21b stockpiling of debt is pretty impressive. I wonder if their spectacular demise will spread out the radio landscape a bit, or just crater the whole damn thing.
What fuckin’ idiot lends (or borrows, for that matter) $21billion? Seriously, let that sink in, $21billion debt at an Internet radio company!!! No wonder we’re all screwed.
iHeartMedia is the reason why commercial radio is the way it is now. Playlists are not decided at the local level anymore, it’s all done from corporate. The DJ’s are probably voice-tracking 3 or 4 other stations across the country, and localization is all but dead for radio that is supposed to serve the communities that they broadcast in. It’s a sad state of affairs, and they brought this upon themselves.
iHeartMedia isn’t merely an Internet radio company.
Formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., per Wikipedia it was “taken private by Bain Capital, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners through a leveraged buyout in 2008.” And “Since 2008, iHeartMedia, Inc., has struggled to pay down more than $20 billion in debt the company acquired from its leveraged buyout.”
So, yeah, the private investment firm that former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney co-founded did their usual trick of buying out a large public company, taking it private, and saddling it with loads of debt, while the investment firm executives walked away from the deal with fat paychecks and huge bonuses.
While Clear Channel were a pretty scuzzy operation even before the buyout, their new private corporate overloads were sure to make it even worse afterwards, as they tried to squeeze even more blood from the turnip.
iHeart radio Tampa FL offices on Gandy Blvd just west of Dale Mabry I drive by every day headed to the YMCA. The parking lot is packed, with many cars there even on the weekend. Sounds like a case of over zealous investors and management trying to corner the market and taking on too much debt In the process. Sad for all the hard working employees who will be out of work in 2016.
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I have a few friends in radio that worked for Clear Channel that would emphatically agree with your opinion.
They’re not an Internet radio company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_owned_by_iHeartMedia
I stand corrected.