iHeartMedia, the radio company headed by former AOL Time Warner and MTV executive Bob Pittman, might not survive another year because of negative cash flow owed to $20 billion in debt, the company said in an SEC filing on Friday.
iHeartMedia, owner of iHeartRadio, has massive debt on its books mostly because of a $24 billion leveraged buyout of billboard-advertising company Clear Channel Communications, MarketWatch reported on Friday.
The company has nearly $350 million of debt due this year, and another $8.3 billion in 2019.
“Management anticipates that our financial statements to be issued for the three months ended March 31, 2017, will include disclosure indicating there will be substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the date the first quarter 2017 financial statements are issued,” iHeartMedia said in its filing.
In December, Moody’s Investors Service dropped iHeartMedia’s ratings to “negative” from “stable.”
Shares of iHeartMedia, traded over the counter, fell 5 percent Friday to $2.75.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported Friday that a group of iHeartMedia lenders signed a cooperation agreement opposing a debt overhaul, a move that could threaten the company’s bid to avoid bankruptcy.
iHeartMedia is the largest operator of U.S. radio stations with about 250 million monthly listeners.
