There was major cause for celebration in the upper echelons of iHeartMedia and Cumulus, as it was revealed via separate 8-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that both companies will be showering sweet bonuses upon several of their key executives -- on January 10, 2017, the Board of Directors of iHeartMedia, Inc. approved a form of retention bonus agreement and individual retention bonus amounts for Bob Pittman , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer -- $1,750,000; Richard J. Bressler, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer -- $1,750,000; and Steven J. Macri, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance -- $750,000.
But wait! There's more! The Board also approved the "2017 Key Employee Incentive Plan," under which Pittman and Bressler will be eligible to earn an aggregate bonus of $7,000,000 and $3,000,000, respectively. That Incentive Plan runs from January 1, 2017 until December 31, 2017. All the fine print is included in the 8-K filing.
Meanwhile, over at Cumulus, the compensation committee of the Board of Directors of Cumulus Media Inc. approved a one-time compensation award payment of $1,087,500 to company President & Chief Executive Officer Mary G. Berner, "in recognition of, among other things, her exceptional efforts and contributions during 2016, both individually and as a member of the management leadership team, in the initial phase of the Company's operational turnaround plan and ongoing operational and financial restructuring."
Both companies are still in serious financial trouble. iHeart will never get out from under their mountain of debt, and Cumulus is essentially a penny stock these days...but somebody's gettin' paid. It just isn't you.
