iHeartMedia Management Sends Staff A 'Troop-Rallying' Memo; Hearing Date For Reorganization Plan Delayed

Memo and Stipulation

BOB PITTMAN and RICH BRESSLER are rallying the troops in advance of iHEARTMEDIA's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, sending a memo to staffers with advice on how to interpret press and public reaction to the company's restructuring.  Meanwhile, the hearing on the company’s reorganization appears to have been delayed from its original DECEMBER 11th date to a future date, according to a stipulation filed by the company and key creditor WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY.  The DECEMBER 11th hearing, iHEART said in a separate filing, will be devoted instead to the matter of rescheduling the hearing to consider the reorganization plan.

In the memo, PITTMAN and BRESSLER note that, "there continues to be a lot of press around our restructuring so we wanted to send you an update to give you some perspective on it," touting the company as "unique" and citing several "facts" to bolster the company's image, including being "the number one audio company in AMERICA" with "greater reach than any media property in the U.S., including FACEBOOK and GOOGLE" (91% of Americans per month); an audience "twice the size of the next radio competitor and seven times their size in digital audience"; twice the "social footprint" of NETFLIX; "the number one commercial podcasting company by a wide margin"; national events; "a consumer master brand that stands alone in the audio space"; a unique position on smart speakers; "the only audio company that has a significant presence on YOUTUBE and SNAPCHAT"; "unique and powerful research and programming tools that allow our creative people to continually create, improve and refresh our products at a speed others can only dream of"; and data analytics, programmatic, and attribution tools equal to digital players and "in the hands of the best sales organization – smart, creative, responsive and aggressive."

The memo concludes that, "when you hear that people are interested in iHEARTMEDIA in any form, take it as a compliment; it’s validation of our strong operating business and the unique position we have in the media business, and how our value increases once we have fixed our debt issues.  We are truly a one of a kind company, and let’s never forget that we’ve gotten here through hard work and great thinking from you and everyone else on our team."

The stipulation submitted to U.S. Bankruptcy Court indicates that iHEARTMEDIA and key creditor WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY are taking more time to work out iHEART's emergence from Chapter 11 and have moved the hearing date for the reorganization plan from DECEMBER 11th to an unspecified future date.

The stipulation, filed YESTERDAY (12/5), seeks also to extend the deadlines for various filings in relation to the plan to future dates as well.

« see more Net News