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IHeartMedia, which proclaimed itself “the No. 1 audio company in America” and owns more than 850 radio stations, announced the reorganization as a way to group its markets “by common needs and characteristics” into three divisions, the company said in a release.
It is unclear how many of the company’s 12,500 employees were laid off. The layoffs came the day after iHeartMedia announced it would be promoting nine executives to serve as division presidents under the reorganized system.
“IHeart is the rare example of a major media company that has made the successful transformation into a 21st-century media company — one with unparalleled scale, reaching 91 percent of Americans each month with our broadcast assets alone, more than any other media company," iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman said.
“It’s an exciting time at iHeart as we launch our new markets group structure to capitalize on our unparalleled reach and groundbreaking technology to create one-of-a-kind platforms and services for our employees, partners, and listeners,” Greg Ashlock, president of iHeartMedia’s markets group, said in a press release.
“Our nine division presidents bring a complementary portfolio of knowledge, leadership and diverse functional expertise that will position us well as we continue to transform and modernize as the leader in the audio space.”
“Our people are our company’s most important asset,” iHeartMedia wrote in a memo to employees obtained by Rolling Stone. “There will be some employee dislocation — some by geography and some by function — which is the unfortunate price we pay to modernize the company.”
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