After a blog post by Jerry Del Colliano titled “David Field Confirms Audacy Bankruptcy” which failed to confirm Audacy’s bankruptcy, Audacy fired back. The title of the blog post was tweeted (then deleted) by a WGBH Boston news anchor as a fact, then picked up by numerous Boston media personalities, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
At this point, the company’s Twitter account issue a statement,
“A blog post published today falsely claims that the CEO of Audacy has confirmed Audacy’s bankruptcy. This assertion is categorically false. Audacy intends to vigorously pursue all available remedies for misrepresentations intended to cause damage to Audacy and its stakeholders.
Additionally, Entercom’s CEO emailed the entire company, writing:
I’m reaching out to respond to an industry troll’s fake news about Audacy currently circulating.
An industry blog post published today incorrectly claimed that “David Field Confirms Audacy’s Bankruptcy.” This statement is categorically and unequivocally false. Audacy intends to pursue all applicable remedies for false and defamatory statements intended to cause damage to Audacy, its employees and its stakeholders to the fullest extent permitted by law.
As you have heard from me and other members of our management team, we are excited and confident about our future and are focused on effectively capitalizing on the acquisitions, investments and improvements we have made to position the business for a bright future in the dynamic and growing world. sound. With the addition of a strong leadership position in podcasting, a
a significantly improved national sales organization, the rollout of a new, reimagined digital platform, emerging advertising technologies and data capabilities, and the industry’s best local radio group with an unrivaled #1 position in news and sports, Audacy is better positioned than ever to serve customers and audiences with greater revenue and revenue potential under normalized market conditions.
Both statements indicate that the company intends to sue Del Colliano for the “false statements” made. They wouldn’t be the first company to sue him. Clear Channel and Del Colliano had lawsuits against each other which were settled in 2002, with Clear Channel purchasing Inside Radio from Del Colliano. iHeartMedia continues to operate the publication as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Audacy stock closed Tuesday at 52 cents per share. The company was told by the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month that it has six months to return to a minimum average closing price of $1.00 per share over 30 consecutive trading days or it will be delisted from the stock exchange. This was then followed by the company laying off up to 5% of its workforce as part of other ongoing cost reductions to improve its bottom line.
