Sales 2023: $ 3.751 billion (€ 3.469 billion)

Overview

iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.) is the largest radio company in the USA with over 890 radio stations and around 250 million listeners per month. According to its annual report, iHeart has "a greater reach than any other media company in the USA".

An updated company profile will be published shortly.

General Information

Headquarters
20880 Stone Oak Parkway
San Antonio, Texas 78258
USA
Telephone: 001 210 822 2828
website: investors.iheartmedia.com

Branches of trade: radio stations, rights trading, live entertainment, outdoor advertising
Legal form: Stock Company
Financial year: 01.01. – 31.12.
Founding year: 1972 as San Antonio Broadcasting Company, from 1975 Clear Channel Communications, 2007 iHeartMedia, iHeartCommunications

Basic economic data (in million US dollars)

	2023	2022	2021	2020
Revenue	3.751	3.912	3.558	2.948
profit (loss) after taxes	(1.103)	(265)	(159)	(1.915)
Stock price (year end)	2,67	6,13	21,04	12,98
Employees	10.800	11.000	10.800	10.200

Sales by business segment (in million US$)

	2023	2022	2021	2020
Multiplatform Group	2.435	2.597	2.489	2.207
Digital Audio Group	1.069	1.022	834	474
Audio & Media Services Group	257	304	248	275

Executives and Directors

Management:

• Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO
• Richard J. Bressler, Chief Operating Officer and Financial Officer
• Jordan Fasbender, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
• Mike McGuinness, Executive Vice President, Deputy Chief Financial Officer & Head of Investor Relations
• Wendy Goldberg, Chief Communications Officer
• Joe Robinson, President, Corporate Development & Ventures
• Michele Laven, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Diversity Officer
• Paul McNicol, Executive Vice President
• Conal Byrne, CEO, Digital Audio Group
• Gayle Troberman, President Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer
• Carter Brokaw, Chief National and Digital Revenue Officer
• Adrienne Pabst, President, Strategic Partners Group
• Tony Coles, President, Multi-Cultural Business and Development; President, Black Information Network
• Ann Marie Licata, EVP Sales Operations
• John Sykes, President, Entertainment Enterprises
• Stephen J. Macri, CFO iHeart Media, SVP Corporate Finance
• Jeanna Craig, President, National Media
• Justin Nesci, EVP Advanced Audio and Data Revenue Group
• Hartley Adkins, President, Integrated Revenue Strategy
• Julie Donohue, President, Multi-Market Partnerships
• Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer & President, National Programming Group
• Will Pearson, President, iHeartPodcasts
• Hetal Patel, Executive Vice President, SmartAudio® Intelligence Insights
• Julie Talbott, President, Premiere Networks
• Mark Gray, CEO, Katz Media Group

Supervisory Board:

• Bob Pittman, iHeartMedia
• Richard J. Bressler, iHeartMedia
• Sam Englebardt, Director
• Brad Gerstner, Altimeter Capital Management
• Cheryl Mills, Director
• Graciela Monteagudo, Director
• Jay Rasulo, Saban Capital Acquisition Corp.
• Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, Drawbridge

History

Clear Channel was founded by chance in 1972. Investment banker L. Lowry Mays had arranged financing for a group of investors to purchase the radio station KEEZ-FM. When the investors lost interest, Mays took over the station himself together with local car dealer BJ "Red" McCombs and founded the San Antonio Broadcasting Company. From 1975 onwards, Mays devoted himself entirely to the radio business. He bought his first national station and named his company Clear Channel Communications ("Clear Channel" refers to a station in the American radio market that is exclusively available on one frequency across the USA and can therefore be received hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometers away). Due to restrictive legal regulations, Mays briefly lost interest in radio in the early 1990s. Instead, he bought seven TV stations by 1992. In 1992 and 1996, the Telecommunications Act gradually lifted the concentration restrictions in the US radio market. In 1994, Clear Channel controlled 35 radio and nine TV stations; by 1997, it already controlled 175 radio and 18 TV stations.

At the end of the 1990s, Mays finally rose to media mogul status when Clear Channel became the second largest radio provider in the USA through the acquisition of Jacor Communications in 1999 (in 2001, the portfolio had more than 1,200 radio stations). Jacor boss Randy Michaels joined the Clear Channel board after the takeover, and Mays found an ideal partner. Michaels, who began his radio career in the 1970s as shock jock ("incredibly horny, wet and ready naked in-studio guests"), made no secret of his business philosophy even during the Jacor era: "We're big. We're bad. We're rich." The ties with the promoter Clear Channel Entertainment led to an antitrust case in 2001 in which Clear Channel was accused of not playing singles by artists who were touring with the competition. In 1999, Clear Channel also took over SFX Entertainment, the largest concert and sports promoter in the USA.

In 2005, after suffering a stroke, Mays handed over the management of the company to his son Mark Mays and retired to the supervisory board. This change of leadership within the family ensured that Lowry Mays, who owed his success to an almost manic cost control, continued to have influence. Among other things, he introduced the "cyber-jocking" method: radio programs were fully or partially pre-produced using digital technology and then broadcast as live programs in a completely different place and at a completely different time. The presenters' voice contributions could be combined - automatically or manually - with current news reports, reports and weather forecasts.

In November 2006, the company management announced that it would sell Clear Channel Communications for 18.7 billion dollars to a group of investors including the investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners (known for their involvement in the ProSiebenSat1 takeover by Haim Saban) and Bain Capital Partners. The Mays family was to continue to run the company under the new owners. However, after the 2006 annual financial statements were announced, the major shareholders Fidelity Management & Research (9%) and Highfields Capital Management (5%) refused to approve the transaction. They considered the company to be undervalued and the takeover offer too low. On September 25, 2007, over 70 percent of shareholders finally approved the sale of the company. Following approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Clear Channel Communications was acquired by CC Media Holdings, a company founded specifically for this purpose, on July 30, 2008, for $24 billion.

However, the FCC had only granted the permit subject to certain conditions and criticism from two of the five commission members, including criticism of the one-sided, right-leaning reporting of Clear Channel stations. The fear was that this political orientation of the radio programs would be reinforced by the involvement of Bain Capital Partners. After all, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, was one of the founders of the investment company. In addition, there were accusations that Clear Channel had abused its market power to support George W. Bush's re-election and the Iraq War. However, it was not Clear Channel that boycotted the anti-Bush country band "Dixie Chicks" across all channels, as many believed, but competitor Cumulus Media. The anti-Dixie Chicks movement was nevertheless supported by Clear Channel stations and presenters such as Glen Beck.

Closely connected to the iHeart cosmos, alongside the Bush family, and probably the most famous face of the radio group is the right-wing conservative radio presenter and talk show host Rush Limbaugh (born 1951). "The Rush Limbaugh Show" on the Premiere Radio Networks, which belongs to the iHeart group, is the most listened to radio show in the USA with 15.5 million listeners per week (December 2019).

In the mid-2010s, iHeartMedia was in danger of collapsing under the enormous debt burden of $21 billion (more than the entire US radio industry generates in advertising revenue per year). The interest on the debt was higher than the actually good revenue. As with similar leveraged buyout deals, the private equity groups Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Partners did not "buy" Clear Channel in 2008, but rather financed the transaction largely through loans, which were then imposed on the company. Alongside the AOL-Time Warner merger, the Bain/THL Clear Channel deal was one of the most catastrophic decisions in media history at the time. But it wasn't just the debt. The purchase price of $27 billion, at the height of the mega-buyout mania in 2008, was also far too high. Added to this was the ailing radio business. Despite its enormous market power and excellent relationships with the music industry, iHeartMedia had problems monetizing its digital business.

On March 15, 2018, the largest US radio company filed for bankruptcy protection and was able to reduce its debt burden to $5.75 billion, but had to sell its 89.1 percent stake in the outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor. With the management team around Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler unchanged, the bankruptcy/creditor protection phase was ended in May 2019.

management

CEO Bob Pittman started at the bottom of the radio. At 15, to finance his flying lessons, he worked as a DJ at a small radio station in Mississippi. By 19, he was already the program director of a station in Pittsburgh. Time Warner boss Steve Ross then made him a top media manager: As the first MTV boss, he was responsible for the international expansion of the music channel and launched the cable channels VH-1 and Nickelodeon on the side. As AOL president, he was able to connect millions of households to the network. As a member of the investor consortium Pilot Group, he acquired shares in start-ups such as Zynga, Huffington Post and Facebook early on. He also invested five million in iHeartRadio, where he joined as managing director in October 2011. The bad image and high debts made it interesting for him because he always saw the great potential of the radio medium. However, he was unable to prevent bankruptcy.

literature

James Foust, Big Voices of the Air. The Battle over Clear Channel Radio, 2000

Author(s): Collaboration: Ulrich Mikulsky- von Schweinitz