iHeartMedia has joined the growing list of companies implementing sizable pay cuts for senior executives amid the upheaval caused by the coronavirus crisis.Bob Pittman, chairman and chief executive of broadcast giant iHeartRadio, which counts more than 800 stations as well as a formidable digital radio presence, will forego his salary for the remainder of the year and give up his annual incentive bonus, according to a memo first obtained by radio trade tipsheet RAMP and confirmed by Variety. In 2017, Pittman...
iHeartMedia, Inc.
Bob
Pittman
This radio wunderkind was programming WNBC in New York while still a teen, then went on to become part of the founding team at MTV before moving on to AOL-Time Warner, Six Flags Theme Parks and Century 21 Real Estate, with a reputation as a fixer. The Jackson, Mississippi, native now seeks to steer the beleaguered radio network through a Chapter 11 filing which listed $12.3 billion in total assets and a whopping $20.3bn in debt. Despite the threats to terrestrial radio from streaming and satellite, iHeart remains formidable as the nation’s biggest radio network, and Pittman has managed to shift its focus to both personalities and music, promoting on-air stars Elvis Duran, Bobby Bones and Charlamagne tha God, while creating the nationally televised iHeartMusic Awards and Music Festival.