In early November 2020, the No. 1 audio media company in the U.S. received an affirmative Declaratory Ruling from the FCC in response to its request to increase its authorized aggregate foreign ownership from 25% to 100%.
With the decision by the Pai Commission, iHeartMedia gained the ability to become fully foreign-owned, should it choose to go that route.
That’s not likely, but a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing getting lots of coverage in the British press confirms iHeart ownership has just gone “Global” — sort of.
On January 26, Nassau, Bahamas-based Honeycomb Investments Ltd. snapped up a total of 9,631,329 shares of iHeartMedia stock.
This gives the entity 8.8% attributable interest in iHeart.
The name of the reporting person(s): Monte Carlo-based Trustees James Hill and Simon Groom and beneficiary Michael Tabor. All are citizens of the United Kingdom.
Including brokerage commissions, the investment in iHeart is valued at $117,600,414, the SEC filing shows. Further, Honeycomb began snapping up iHeart common stock on January 11, and over the next 18 days snagged more and more shares.
That’s where the story ends, as far as the SEC sees it.
But, who is Michael Tabor?
That’s the £85 million question answered by Europe and Great Britain-focused trade publication RadioToday on Thursday (2/11).
Tabor just happens to be one of the wealthiest individuals in Britain, and the financial source for U.K.-based media and entertainment giant Global.
Tabor’s son, Ashley Tabor-King, is the founder of Global, which owns and operates several of the U.K.’s leading audio brands, including Top 40 Capital, Alternative Rock Radio X, Classic Hits Gold, Spoken Word RAJAR-ratings pacesetter LBC, Rhythmic Adult Contemporary Smooth, Classical Classic FM, and Hot Adult Contemporary Heart.
Now, tongues are wagging that the owner of “Heart” could have some level of impact on iHeartMedia.
That chat could be nothing more than conjecture.
According to the most recent holdings data for iHeart’s stock, traded on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market, the Honeycomb investment makes it the No. 2 institutional shareholder in iHeart. But, there’s been zero discussion on handing a board seat to Tabor or his son.
Meanwhile, two other recent SEC filings solidify the big investment in iHeart by Tabor’s Honeycomb trust, as Blackrock Inc. recently shared that as of Dec. 30, 2020 its total shares held numbered 6,121,517, and Franklin Mutual Advisers disclosed that as of Dec. 31, 2021 it possessed 7,009,977 iHeart shares.
A Honeycomb Investments spokesperson told RadioToday, “iHeart is the largest radio business in the U.S. and Honeycomb is pleased to be able to have acquired this stake in a sector that it knows well.”
According to British trade publication Campaign, Tabor-King formed Global in 2007 and greatly expanded it with the purchase of Capital’s owner, GCap, in 2008. This took the company private.
Gill Hind, CEO of British firm Enders Analysis, opined, “You’ve got to question where Global can go now in the UK. There’s no further room to grow – they can’t take any more market share in radio. The U.S. is the biggest market and iHeartMedia is doing interesting things with podcasts. But unless there’s a way of gaining some control, you to have to question what’s the benefit [for the Tabor family].”
That could be much more than branding U.S.-based Adult Contemporary stations “Heart,” mimicking what was originally Heart 106.2 in London, celebrating its 25th anniversary this September.
The biggest institutional investor in iHeart, by far, is Allianz Asset Management GmbH, the Germany-based outfit. Allianz as of Sept. 29, 2020 reported ownership of some 44,054,980 shares of iHeart.
With news of the Tabor investment getting wide notice on Thursday, IHRT shares were on the rise. As of 3:10pm Eastern, IHRT was priced at $14.89, up 2.4%.
That’s a new COVID-19 era high, and puts IHRT back to where it last was in late February 2020.
