The last ties to the Clear Channel name will soon be unbound for iHeartMedia.
The No. 1 owner of radio stations and parent of iHeartRadio has reached an agreement on the material terms to fully separate Clear Channel Outdoor‘s business from iHeartMedia, which presently owns 89.1% of Clear Channel’s outstanding common stock.
The separation indicates that iHeart’s emergence from debtor-in-possession status is nearing its conclusion.
The material terms of the separation are outlined in CC Outdoor’s 8-K filing made with the SEC on Monday (12/17).
Effective upon iHeartMedia’s emergence, William Eccleshare will become Clear Channel Outdoor’s CEO.
He currently serves as Chairman/CEO of Clear Channel International (CCI) and joined CCI in 2009 and went on to lead Clear Channel Outdoor, including full operational responsibility for CCI and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA), before assuming his current role, in which he is responsible for overseeing CCI’s business operations in 22 countries across Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Eccleshare will be based in London and will also continue to lead CCI as part of his new role. He will also be a member of the new Board of Directors of CCOH, which will be announced prior to the separation.
Scott Wells will continue to lead CCOA as CEO, reporting to Eccleshare.
Until the company exits the restructuring process, Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler will continue their current leadership roles for CCOH, with Pittman as CEO and Bressler as President/CFO.
“Today’s announcement is recognition that while iHeartMedia and CCOH are both very strong in their respective areas … their key constituencies have little strategic overlap,” Pittman said in a statement. “We believe that the separation of the two businesses makes strategic and financial sense, and will allow each company to better achieve their individual missions. Although both businesses are powerful advertising platforms, they each have valuable but different touch points within the advertising community and pursuing separate, highly-targeted strategies will unlock their full potential as freestanding companies.”
CCOH’s current leadership and Board of Directors will remain in place until iHeartMedia exits its restructuring process, at which time the new executives and Board will assume their responsibilities.
