It’s the chatter of the radio broadcasting industry — Jeff Warshaw has formed a yet-to-be detailed consortium and has submitted an unsolicited bid to purchase Cumulus Media and take it private.
While Warshaw has declined to respond to RBR+TVBR‘s request for comment, Cumulus is moving forward with a firm date for the release of its first quarter 2022 results — a call surely to get the attention of many on Wall Street.
Cumulus Media’s Q1 2022 conference call is scheduled for 8:30am on Wednesday, May 4.
Investors and analysts will have roughly 30 minutes to quickly digest the results following their 8am release.
What can investors expect to hear? On the company’s Q4 2021 earnings call, Cumulus CFO Frank López-Balboa shared that, while the audio content creation and distribution company is still experiencing challenges from the auto supply chain and labor shortages, the Omicron variant did not impact business nearly to the extent that Delta variant did a year ago. “We are currently pacing up the low teens versus 2021,” he said.
Mike Kupinski with Noble Capital Markets wanted to know more. CEO Mary Berner obliged, saying, “We’ve got several categories that are now exceeding or very close to 2019 levels. So you’re seeing an upsurge in government, sports betting, professional services, general services, and financial is another big one. There is more physical presence-based categories, events, restaurants. And those categories are leading the way in terms of year-over-year pacing.”
The big one, of course, is Automotive. “It continues to be sluggish, but we are seeing some green shoots in the larger markets as they start to get more deliveries,” Berner said.
With Cumulus trading near $15 per share on April 20, putting CMLS at its best price since late 2019, Warshaw’s buyout offer continues to be the talk of the Radio industry. Little details have been shared with the public. What is known is that the Cumulus Board of Directors has an offer letter, and it is reviewing it.
