Radio station owner Cumulus Media files for bankruptcy to cut $600 mln debt

By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK, March 5 (Reuters) - Cumulus Media, an audio entertainment company which owns 394 radio stations, a radio syndication business and a podcast network, has filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas with a restructuring deal that would eliminate most of the company’s $697 million in debt. Cumulus said in its bankruptcy filing late Wednesday that its debt had become unsustainable due to unrelenting challenges such as increasing competition from digital audio and streaming platforms, changes in the advertising market, and recurring annual declines in its radio audiences. The company previously filed for bankruptcy in 2017. The restructuring deal will wipe out Cumulus’ existing equity shares and put the company under the ownership of its lenders, if approved in bankruptcy court. The deal is supported by the company’s lenders, and it would eliminate approximately $592 million in debt, according to Cumulus’ bankruptcy court filings. “The prepackaged process is intended to address the company’s debt efficiently with no disruption to our operations, our people, and our strategies,” Cumulus CEO Mary Berner said in a Thursday statement. Cumulus reported $553.6 million in net revenue for the nine months that ended on September 30, 2025, with a net loss of $65.6 million over that period, according to the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cumulus said its decline was hastened by a legal dispute with Nielsen Audio, which provides ratings data that network broadcasters use to sell advertising. Nielsen changed its policy in late 2024 to require radio companies to buy data separately for all local markets in which they operate, rather than allowing them to buy only nationwide radio data, according to Cumulus’ court filings. Cumulus sued over the change, arguing that the new policy raised Cumulus’ costs by forcing it to buy unwanted local ratings data products and preventing it from identifying and dropping products that did not generate positive returns. That litigation is ongoing, and Cumulus won an initial injunction that was later stayed by an appeals court, according to its bankruptcy court filings. Other large radio companies, like Audacy and iHeartRadio, have also used bankruptcy to restructure their debts in recent years. Cumulus Media is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and it has 3,000 employees. The case is In re: Cumulus Media Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 26-bk-90346 For Cumulus: Paul Basta of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; John Higgins of Porter Hedges LLP; among others Read more: Radio network Cumulus Media sues Nielsen over alleged ratings monopoly FCC approves radio license transfers to allow Audacy to exit bankruptcy