Salem Media Group has completed the sale of its Camarillo, CA headquarters in a transaction finalized on May 1, but that doesn’t mean the Christian broadcast company will be leaving Ventura County any time soon.
Initially disclosed in a January 19 SEC filing, the property at 4880 Santa Rosa Road was first reported as selling to Greg Robinson’s Eclipse RE Holdings LLC for $6,231,900, but Salem’s investor report shows the property sold for approximately $5.5 million.
Salem will continue operating from this location under a five-year leaseback agreement, with an annual rent of approximately $400,000, which is also a decrease from the estimated $500,000 rent reported in January. Despite relocating most executive operations to Irving, TX in 2021, the California facility still houses Salem’s Corporate, Radio, and Christian Teaching and Talk Programming divisions.
Salem made the revelation in its first quarter financials on Thursday. The truncated earnings report came without comment from the broadcaster’s executive team. While net revenue for Salem fell to $58.60 million in Q1 2024 from $63.48 million in the same period of 2023, the company’s net loss managed to hold nearly even.
Salem’s Q1 net loss of $5.18 million was only slightly worse than the $5.15 million net loss reported last year. Year-over-year revenue decreases were noted across broadcast and publishing revenues, although the latter was mostly affected by the December sale of Regnery Publishing to Skyhorse Publishing. Digital media revenue saw a $200,000 increase.
Of those three divisions, the lion’s share of Salem’s consolidated revenue still comes from broadcast, representing around 78%.
Despite the challenges, Salem is actively managing its financial strategy, indicated by various transactions aimed at optimizing its asset portfolio, including divestitures in Nashville and Honolulu. The company says these financial movements are part of Salem’s broader strategy to stabilize and grow its operations amid fluctuating market conditions.
