Following Audacy’s announcement that it has filed for bankruptcy as part of its financial restructuring, CEO David Field sent an internal memo to all company staff outlining what he calls, “A positive step forward for Audacy and our stakeholders, including our employees.”
The restructuring agreement, reached with a supermajority of debtholders, will reduce Audacy’s debt from around $1.9 billion to approximately $350 million as part of a “prepackaged” Chapter 11 process.
In his memo, obtained by Radio Ink, Field referenced other Chapter 11 restructurings, including those of iHeartMedia and Cumulus, while blaming the situation on, “The sustained macro and secular challenges over the past four years.”
He pledges, “Audacy will operate normally during this process. There will be no disruption to your wages and benefits. Our current leadership team will continue to lead the Company and day-to-day roles and responsibilities will not change.”
“We have navigated the storm and steadfastly executed our strategic transformation plan, investing in our people, platforms, content and technology to enhance our competitive position. As a result, we are unquestionably a much stronger company today in serving our listeners and customers than ever before. But the duration and severity of the perfect storm has necessitated the actions we are announcing today. To be clear, these actions are strictly to address our balance sheet issues and do not reflect on the strength of our business and its future,” remarked Field.
“Today marks the dawn of a new era for Audacy with a robust balance sheet that will facilitate our future growth and performance. I fully recognize that this has been a difficult period as we have coped with a long stretch of challenges and uncertainty.
I want to express my deep appreciation for the extraordinary commitment and resilience you have demonstrated through the turbulence as we have remained diligently focused on delivering the best experience for our listeners and advertisers. I would ask each of you to maintain your focus on serving our customers as we transition and look forward to capitalizing on our opportunities and to better times ahead.”
Field will hold hold an all-staff webinar later Monday to provide further details.
I have the utmost respect for David and Entercom. Yes, Entercom, not Audacy. Working at Entercom Buffalo for 22 years, I never dreamed their could be a better place to work. It was amazing. From the leadership, to the products, to the entire staff.
This BK is very disappoiting, but not unexpected. Conference call upon conference call, the rally flag would be risen for the benefit of stockholders. Digital! Podcasts! OTT! Everything BUT radio. How employees or stockholders actually believed the potential growth in these “shiney new toys” is beyond me. Shame on the company for not focusing on it’s core values and decimating what was a great family-owned radio broadcast company.
I saw the exodus of great talent at ETM Buffalo. One by one, top people, talent, sales, programming just did not want to work there anymore. Management made no effort to keep A players.
Give these stations back to operators who actually care about the medium and the community. THEY will run it correctly. THEY will care.
I feel bad for the employees and their families who will be walking on eggshells during this mess. What Joe Field built with integrity, was torn down by greed.
These current leaders of these bankrupt radio companies are always the ones who end up in Radio Ink Top 20 most powerful! Give me a break.
When you stiff creditors for hundreds of millions of dollars in loan obligations, and you call it “the dawn of a new era”… that is absolutely pathetic.
These companies are operating like it’s still 1996 while the rest of the world has moved on.