Monday, September 12, 2016

NASDAQ Threatens To Boot Cumulus

The Nasdaq stock market is threatening to boot the shares of troubled radio station giant Cumulus Media Inc.(Nasdaq: CMLS) because they have plunged in value, report the Atlanta Business Journal.

Cumulus shares closed Sept. 9 at 35 cents. Nasdaq requires that shares it lists trade for at least $1.

To boost the price of its shares above $1, Cumulus on Sept. 9 asked its shareholders to approve a reverse stock split that would swap eight shares of the company's existing stock for one new share. The move would reduce the number of Cumulus Class A shares from 750 million to 93.7 million.

Cumulus reported Sept. 9 that Nasdaq has given the company until early November for its shares to rise to the $1 minimum.

"Our inability to maintain the listing of our Class A Common Stock on any NASDAQ market may materially adversely affect the liquidity and market price of our Class A Common Stock," Cumulus reported. "The Board is submitting the Reverse Stock Split Amendment to stockholders for approval and adoption with the primary intent of increasing the price of our Class A Common Stock to regain compliance with this listing requirement."


Like many traditional media companies, Cumulus is struggling as the media business is being rocked as advertisers and consumers flock to new digital media offerings by companies such as Facebook and Google. Cumulus lost $546 million in 2015. Cumulus's chief financial officer exited in June, and in August the company reported that its profits for the first half of 2016 had plunged. Cumulus is carrying $2.4 billion in debt.

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