For much of the 2000s, Anthony DiClemente was a familiar name to those listening in on quarterly earnings calls hosted by radio and TV companies with publicly traded stock. In August 2019, the longtime Wall Street financial analyst went in-house at CBS, and is today EVP/Investor Relations for ViacomCBS.
Now, one of the most familiar faces among the Wall Street analysts covering the nation’s publicly traded radio and TV companies is following his lead — taking a major in-house role at Comcast.
Marci Ryvicker will join the company as SVP of Investor Relations, starting next week. She succeeds Jason Armstrong, who was recently promoted to Group Chief Financial Officer at Sky, effective February 1.
The move comes following the close of CES 2020 in Las Vegas and right before the start of NATPE Miami on Jan. 21.
Ryvicker presently serves as Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Wolfe Research, a role she gained after exiting Wells Fargo Securities in 2018.
She first rose to prominence as an analyst covering radio and TV companies in 2002, when she joined what was then known as Wachovia Securities. For five years before that, she was a manager at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Ryvicker obtained a Harvard MBA in 2002.
During her time at Wells Fargo and, later, at Wolfe, Ryvicker became known for what the Media Financial Management Association (MFM) and its BCCA subsidiary in 2019 called “her deep, bottoms-up, analysis of various media subsectors.”
She appeared September 12 at the MFM’s Media Outlook 2020, an event co-chaired by Antonella Ricciardi, SVP Group Controller, Entertainment & Lifestyle Networks and Telemundo Network at Comcast-owned NBCUniversal.
At Comcast, Ryvicker will report to CFO Mike Cavanagh. He came on board at Comcast in 2015, and was formerly the Co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Corporate & Investment Bank, from 2012 to 2014.
“Marci has tremendous expertise in the media, technology, cable, and broadcast industries, and is one of the most well-known and highly-respected analysts on Wall Street,” Cavanagh said. “I look forward to her bringing her leadership and talents to our strong investor relations and finance teams, which do a terrific job communicating our company strategy to the analyst and shareholder communities.”
Of the companies that will most miss Ryvicker’s presence on a quarterly earnings call, Entercom Communications is likely at the top of the list.
Ryvicker had been a regular presence on Entercom quarterly earnings calls, in particular following the closing of its Reverse Morris Trust-fueled tax free merger with CBS Radio. Prior to November 2017, it had been a long time since Entercom’s top brass fielded live questions from analysts. Ryvicker emerged as the first go-to analyst for President/CEO David Field and CFO Richard Schmaeling.
Asking about Q3 2017, Ryvicker wanted to know the math behind Entercom’s “surprising” cost synergies number. At the time, Entercom revised its originally anticipated $25 million in cost-saving synergies from its merger with CBS Radio. The revision was eye-catching, at $100 million.
Ryvicker asked where the additional cost synergies are coming from and when the timing is planned for — year one, or year two, or even year three. Field explained that the bigger number comes from “replacing services with existing Entercom capabilities, eliminating redundancy in eight overlap markets, and other areas where there can be greater cost efficiencies.”
By Q2 and Q3 2019 however, Wolfe Research VP Stephan Bisson was sitting in for Ryvicker on Entercom’s earnings calls.
With Ryvicker’s move to Comcast, Kyle Evans, Managing Director of Equity Research at Stephens, has emerged as a top Wall Street media analyst. The same can be said of two individuals that track NYSE-traded Townsquare Media: Jim Goss, VP/Senior Investment Analyst at Barrington Research, and Noble Financial Director of Research and M&E Managing Director Michael Kupinski, who is based in Boca Raton, Fla.
