Investors immediately responded to a Federal judge’s decision on Friday to reject Cumulus Media’s refinancing agreement with JPMorgan Chase, sending shares tumbling just after 12:15 pm Eastern. After falling as low as 60 cents, bargain seekers started buying up CMLS shares. At the closing bell, Cumulus suffered a bruising 24-cent decline, closing at 76 cents. Trading was massive, at 1.79 million shares; average volume is 164,729 shares.
The steep drop in share value for the nation’s No. 2 owner of radio stations was also felt by iHeartMedia, which fell 4 cents, to $1.16.
Not all was bad for publicly traded radio companies, however, as Entercom improved by 42 cents, to $16.15. The E.W. Scripps Co. increased by 19 cents, to $21.32, as investors seemed to approve of the company’s Q4 and FY16 earnings, which were released Friday morning.
Among key media advertisers, Kohl’s (up $2.08, to $42.99) and Target (up $1.53, to $66.51) benefitted from an announcement from rival JC Penney that it plans to close up to 140 stores and offer voluntary retirement packages as a sales drop continues.
The RBR Radio Index fell 11.982, or 2.11%, to 555.769.
The TVBR Television Index rose 7.327, or 0.71%, to 1039.516.
Gainers
Radio One, up 3.8%
Entercom, up 2.7%
Entravision, up 1.8%
Decliners
Cumulus, down 24.1%
iHeart, down 3.3%
Tribune, down 0.7%