Jeff Marcus: No Plans For Cumulus Bankruptcy

Big shareholder, Chairman Jeffrey Marcus has been telling industry influencers that he isn't planning on bankruptcy for Cumulus Media.

The NY Post is reporting private-equity folks there’s still some value to be extracted despite the $2.4 billion debt load for the second biggest station owner in the US.

Marcus made a tough call last week swapping out longtime CEO Lew Dickey for magazine industry honcho Mary Berner, who famously took Reader’s Digest Association through bankruptcy.

The Dickey family holds the second-largest block of Cumulus.

Mary Brenner

Cumulus Media Inc. (NASDAQ:CMLS) lost 6.41% during the past week and dropped 43.41% in the last 4 weeks. The company is expected to next issue their quarterly announcement on or around Nov. 9, 2015. Cumulus Media Inc. most recently posted earnings of $0.05 per share for their fiscal quarter which closed on 2015-06-30.

New CEO Mary Berner had been on an operational tour of the company since joining the board on May 13 to try to figure out ways of jump-starting growth and reorganizing sales to better serve advertiser interests.

Critics have had much to say about her lack of radio experience. Berner was CEO of Fairchild Publications and was in charge of the Readers Digest Association as it moved into a prearranged bankruptcy before joining the MPA.

Berner, a mother of four children, took over RDA in 2007 after it had been bought by private equity investors led by Ripplewood Holdings and financed primarily through debt. During her tenure, Ms. Berner led the company through a pre-arranged bankruptcy, laid off executives and attempted to shift the magazine’s focus to more socially conservative voice. In 2009, Ms. Berner cut 8 percent of the company’s staff members worldwide.

Ms Berner has worked in publishing for 30 years, starting at Working Woman magazine, moving to Success magazine and becoming publisher of TV Guide at age 29.

She moved to Glamour and in 1999 became chief executive of Fairchild Publications, which she ran for seven years until it was folded into Condé Nast.

While RDA chief executive, Ms Berner tried to endear herself to employees by rubbing shoulders with them in the cafeteria and hosting breakfasts with staffers, though some such team-building exercises could verge on the farcical.

Over the holidays, Ms Berner wanted to show her appreciation for employees but did not want to throw a traditionally stuffy Christmas party.

So she and the rest of the executive committee dressed up as elves and paraded around the office, handing out confectionery, according to Financial Times.