Down to $29.76 as it closed yesterday on a trading session that saw the Dow drop 370 points on continued fears of a recession. You may remember CCU was once a $90 stock way back when.
The recent and infamous John Hogan memo calling for deeper cutbacks ahead of the potential closing of the sale of Clear Channel to investment banks Lee & Bain was like asking a super model to not eat.
Now Mark Mays emails his employees with a truly clueless "win one for the Gipper" essay.
First of all, why is this man writing emails?
“Now more than ever, radio must continue to stay creative, fresh and compelling in a new age when listeners have a growing choice of technology options for receiving the music and information they want…Clear Channel Radio is stepping out well beyond the pack to deliver more and better ways of reaching our audiences.”
I can't take it anymore.
How does Mark Mays have the nerve to write that when he and his family and their minions have singlehandedly gutted a great group of radio properties the way a fisherman would clean out a fish. He's cut out their hearts. Tied the hands of his talented programmers, managers and sales people. Duct taped their mouths. Fired them en mass and asked the survivors to make cutbacks that are so deep they defy his stated goal of continuing to stay creative, fresh and compelling.
The Mays' get rich all over again and they leave the sinking ship (remember -- $29.76 vs. $90 a share). And now Mark Mays becomes Tony Robbins!
Motivational speaker -- team builder.
Enough already.
Just leave quietly.
My friend and fellow New Jerseyian, the colorful music publisher Kal Rudman used to remind me that "good karma comes back as good, and bad as bad".
The legacy of the Mays family is for history to decide. It's reasonable to assume they will not be remembered with Marconi. They may be remembered as the unlikely winner of the consolidation stakes -- the 1,110 station mega group that had money, power and political influence and still failed taking the entire industry down with them.
$29.76 a share.
They played hardball. Ran friends of mine out of the business. Discarded the very talented people that could have helped them succeed.
These folks are Texans. They should know the Texas saying made famous by the late brilliant writer Molly Ivins -- "You've got to dance with them what brung you".
Capstar employees -- Jimmy de Castro's AM/FM money machine -- Randy Michaels' Jacor. The talent acquired through many acquisitions.
Mark, the failure of Clear Channel is not about you -- it's about them, because if you had let these talented folks do their jobs you probably wouldn't be holding your breath waiting for the Lee and Bain deal to close.
Probably would have been the industry's leader into the Internet and mobile space from a strong terrestrial radio base.
Don't tell me I'm being too tough on Clear Channel. I'm not. Just pointing out how they ran the family business into the ground -- needlessly. I've been screaming about the arrogance of power for for 12 years now.
I don't know what these fine folks (who have been working for clueless leaders) must think when their self-appointed spiritual leader -- Mark Mays -- emails them at the worst possible moment.
Mays tells them "Clear Channel Radio is stepping out well beyond the pack to deliver more and better ways of reaching our audiences".
Everyday the Clear Channel employees accomplish this, it's without the help of the mother ship.
So, go to your corner.
Count your money.
Fire up your private jet engines and just -- go away.
And stop with the Tony Robbins imitation because you've got it all wrong.
I have a student who went to a Tony Robbins motivational meeting -- you know the ones where he invites people to take off their shoes and walk on a bed of burning hot coals to show how important mind is over pain. She's got the scars to prove it.
So do the loyal and exceptional people of Clear Channel.
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