NASDAQ has made its determination that Cumulus Media no longer qualifies to trade as a NASDAQ listed stock. Not only did the reverse stock split fail to keep the stock above $1 a share, the capitalization (price x #shares) is too small. Cumulus is asking for an appeal, but there is no reason to expect a different outcome.<\/p>\n
If I were king of NASDAQ, I would add a new requirement for listing \u2013 that the stockholder equity of the \u201cowners\u201c must be at least a certain percentage of the total debt+ownership. 5% might be a reasonable number. Cumulus has \u00a72.4 billion in debt and Market capitalization of $9.7 million. That mans the \u201cowners\u201d have no \u201cskin in the game\u201d. The real owners are the debt holders whose sole interest is milking the cash flow. iHeart (Clear Channel) is in the same situation, just having 10x as much debt and they are no longer publicly traded. (The small portion still traded as Clear Channel owns a 10% share of the outdoor billboard company, not the radio stations).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NASDAQ has made its determination that Cumulus Media no longer qualifies to trade as a NASDAQ listed stock. Not only did the reverse stock split fail to keep the stock above $1 a share, the capitalization (price x #shares) is … Continue reading