iHeartMedia is selling the intellectual property to the words “Clear Channel” to its subsidiary Clear Channel Outdoor. It was back in 2014 that Clear Channel Radio changed it’s name to iHeartmedia, however the Outdoor division is still called Clear Channel. Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker, who covers the Outdoor division, speculated what this sale might mean.
Here’s what Ryvicker wrote about the proposed sale. “On its face this seems to make a lot of sense given that iHM has more or less abandoned the Clear Channel moniker when it comes to its non-outdoor assets such as radio (which is now iHeartRadio/iHeartMedia. That said, we honestly have no idea how to interpret this without seeing the details – it could be another method to move cash from the outdoor subsidiary to the parent (which is facing a $8.3B debt wall in ’19), cleanup in preparation for a potential spin (that would allow CCO to keep its trademarked name) or simple housekeeping (iHM really has no use for that intellectual property/monikers anymore). Also, the 8-K did not provide any financial data on the topic either.”
Let’s see……The Clear Channel name has such a negative connotation to it. No one wanted/wants to work there, the name is synonymous with what is wrong with radio and in a bigger sense, corporate America today. The company is $21 billion+ in debt with no means or game-plan to ever get out of this hole and it continues to lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Pittman has completely run this company into the ground so badly that the radio division has changed it’s name to iHeart. (Think lipstick on a pig analogy.) How much is the Clear Channel trademark worth – $100 and a cup of coffee – and who would want it, let alone pay for it? Pittman is the biggest charlatan, fraud in US business history. He has drain the heart and soul of this company as well as its coffers. Can you say Bernie Madoff part II? Yet they reward him and his henchman Bresler with $9 million on bonuses for “a job well.done”? I don’t get it.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.