Broadcasting Stocks

Nielsen has a new deal with Hearst Television. It has a relatively new CEO. Yet, its share price continues to sag. On Thursday, Nielsen stock dipped to a fresh five-year low.

What do Saga Communications and Entercom have in common? Not much, actually. Now, unfortunately, they are linked on Wall Street as two radio broadcasting companies suffering their biggest stock slump since Barack Obama was in the midst of his successful reelection campaign.

As the 2pm Eastern hour neared on the Friday before Christmas, investors expressed their frustration with a deceleration of economic growth and the spectre of a Federal government shutdown -- something expect to be prevented today by the House of Representatives. Tech stocks, and media stocks, were among the biggest decliners.

Close observers of Beasley Broadcast Group's stock have noticed an odd trend of late: when the overall market goes south, Beasley shares seem to rise. That's just what happened on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates, noting that "some" further rate hikes would be necessary in the next 12 months. Investors reacted angrily, sending general indices on Wall Street southward. For Veritone Inc., the damage was substantial.

Barack Obama was seeking a second term in office. The No. 1 song in the U.S. was "Call Me Maybe." And, Entercom shares were trading between $5.44 and $6.33 a share. Entercom just turned back the clock on Wall Street, with its shares now at their lowest closing price since July 2012.

A Boston-based investment firm appears to have ironed out its differences with the entity representing iHeartMedia's legacy noteholders — a sign that iHeart's release from debtor-in-possession status by a Houston-based bankruptcy court is chugging along toward a January 2019 resolution.

It's been a bad December for many a media company's publicly traded stock. On Monday, CBS shares slid to a price last seen in October 2015. Then, the bomb dropped on Les Moonves: He's getting no severance.

Don't panic ... or, try not to. Media stocks slumped along with general indices on a frightful Friday for Wall Street. Another dip was seen for Beasley. That said, only CBS, Tribune Media and Emmis saw gains, and the losses were ugly.

Thursday proved to be another disastrous day on Wall Street for Beasley Broadcast Group. Trading as BBGI, the radio broadcasting company's stock slid 5% on low trading volume. It puts Beasley shares back to where they were in June 2016.

It's been a rough month on Wall Street for AI-powered audio attribution firm Veritone Inc. The company's stock continues to trade at all-time lows. On Wednesday, a 10.3% dip was registered even as a new pact with Univision was announced. Why? A law firm is investigating potential claims against the Veritone board for a previously unannounced proposed company sale.

Shareholders of record on February 25, 2019 will be notified of the meeting and will be eligible to vote.

CBS Corp. has just scored a big cash payment for the sale of its 25-acre site in the heart of the Fairfax District. Thanks to a definitive agreement announced following Monday's Closing Bell on Wall Street, CBS Television City is being acquired by local real estate developer Hackman Capital Partners.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed another 2.2% in value on Friday, while Nasdaq dipped by 3.1%. How did media issues fare? Townsquare Media was down again, while Beasley and Entercom were on the rise.

When it comes to the overall action on Wall Street and that of radio station owner Beasley Broadcast Group, there seems to be a bit of divergence. Early Thursday, with financial markets down sharply, Beasley was in positive territory. Then, the market started to rebound. Beasley shares promptly headed southward.