Lew Dickey took full charge. By May 2002 the share price recovered to
above the IPO price to a short-lived high of $22 on May 31, 2002.
Dickey garnered some strong partners in the form of Bain Capital and
Crestview partners who helped finance a series of ambitious acquisitions
and partnerships which were creative, made Cumulus a significantly
larger company but these acquisitions and Cumulus itself have struggled
in the face of slow to no radio ad growth. (another researcher is
working on this section)
In 2006, Cumulus acquired control of Susquehanna Radio, with the backing of 3 venture capital firms (Bain Capital Partners LLC, The Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.)
for a price of $1.2 Billion. The 33 Susquehanna stations were privately
held in a separate partnership called Cumulus Media Partners, LLC
(commonly referred to as CMP on the company's quarterly earnings calls)
that was the subject of an equity-for-debt swap in May 2009 in an
attempt to avoid defaulting on the terms of the CMP lending agreement.
While Cumulus operated the CMP stations, they initially held only a
minor ownership interest in them.[24]
On January 31, 2011, Cumulus announced a deal to acquire the remaining
ownership of CMP from its equity partners in a stock transaction valued
at approximately $740 million that is closed in August 2011.[25]
As a result of the CMP acquisition, Cumulus now owns a
limited-partnership interest in San Francisco Baseball Associates LP,
the owner of the San Francisco Giants baseball club.[26]
In July 2010, Cumulus publicly announced formation of a similar
venture with Crestview Partners to acquire up to $1 billion of
additional radio assets.[27]
In July 2007, the company announced its intention to "go private",[28]
however on May 11, 2008, the company announced it was unable to come to
terms with the parties involved and the merger/acquisition agreement
was terminated.[29]
Like most major American radio station owners, Cumulus has been
forced to write down the value of its radio station licenses, resulting
in large non-cash losses - $498.9 million in 2008, $230.6 million in
2007, and $63.4 million in 2006.
The company's stock, priced over $56 in 1999,[30] then over $22 in 2004, was as low as $0.45 per share toward the end of 2008.[31][32]
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