Cumulus Media posted a decline in revenue in the first quarter, down 6.4% compared to the same period a year ago. Revenue was $187.3 million in the three-month period.
The company recorded a net loss of $32.4 million compared to a net loss of $14.2 million in Q1 2024.
Financial numbers have been telling a hard tale for the company in recent years, despite emerging from a Chapter 11 reorganization in 2018.
Cumulus is the third-largest U.S. commercial radio group by revenue and has about 400 radio stations. Its Q1 numbers come on the heels of a full year when Cumulus lost $283.3 million.
Its stock traded at 23 cents at close of business yesterday, down 68% for the year to date. The stock was above $15 as recently as 2022. Facing delisting from NASDAQ, Cumulus now will trade on the OTC market effective Friday, a change it announced a week ago.
President/CEO Mary Berner cited “worsening economic headwinds reflecting, among other things, the imposition of tariffs that have depressed both consumer and advertiser sentiment.”
To mitigate those, she said Cumulus “accelerated growth in our digital marketing services business, which was up 30% for the quarter; leveraged our entire platform to capture demand opportunities; and drove additional annualized cost reductions of $7.5 million.”
Broadcast revenue was down 10.6%. Digital revenue grew 6.1% though hampered by the loss of the company relationship with the Daily Wire. Digital is 20% of the company’s total revenue.
Streaming increased by 4% but podcasting decreased by 13%. Cumulus said the latter would have been up if not for the impact of the Daily Wire relationship.
The company’s current debt is $670.2 million.
