Since November 1998 the Company had been developing an internet
platform for classified employment advertising. The new system would
operate in tandem with the radio station cluster in each market and
offer employers the chance to post available positions on the web and
promote their company and the position on the radio stations. At the
time of the dot-com bust the system was in beta test in two markets. One
of the short-lived but important impacts of the
dot-com bubble
burst was a loss of confidence that the promise of the internet would
ever happen. Many professional radio people like Dickey were skeptical
and believed the best course for Cumulus was to focus on the radio
strategy and drop the internet projects.
[17]
Weening who had started a Silicon Valley e-commerce software company in
the early 90's had conceived and was overseeing development of the
employment platform.
[18]
Weening advocated for continuance of the project as a key potential
source of revenue with a service that would be unique among radio
companies. Ultimately, the board backed Dickey not Weening and the
Internet project was scrapped.
Changing of the Guard
According
interviews with two former members of the Cumulus board, Lew Dickey and
his brother John convinced the board to let them run the Company.
Dickey, whose family had just sold an Atlanta station for a reported
$250 million, offered to invest in Cumulus if needed to close pending
acquisitions. The board was concerned about the restatement of revenues
and the shareholder lawsuits. This is consistent with reports in a radio
industry newsletter
[19]
which reported that it was a widely held belief in the Radio industry
was that the Dickey brothers orchestrated events that lead to the
board's decision not to back the Internet project, placing Dickey at the
helm of Cumulus, moving the Cumulus headquarters from Milwaukee to
Atlanta and to Weening's ultimate resignation as an employee and
director in January 2001.
[20][21]
According to public filings Weening, QUAESTUS management company and
other Weening related interests sold their interests in Cumulus a year
later in May 2002 at prices ranging from $17 to $21.50 per share not The
$55 high but considerably higher than share prices after their sale.
The new CEO of Cumulus Media, as of September 2015 is Mary Berner.
In April 2016,
Talk Radio Network filed a lawsuit against Cumulus Media and associated defendants, alleging "
antitrust
violations, unfair competition, breach of contract and breach of
fiduciary duty, among other claims", similar to a lawsuit launched in
2012 and dropped in 2014 by the same plaintiff.
[22] In June 2016, Cumulus Media and Westwood One moved to have the new suit dismissed.
[22]
In June 2016, Cumulus Media announced the resignation of its
Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer, Joseph
P. Hannan, to "pursue other interests" after six years with the company,
to be replaced by John F. Abbot.
[23]
