Report: iHM's Bob Pittman MIA During Creditor Talks

iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman portrays himself as a media titan.
Yet, with iHM — America’s biggest radio station operator — fighting to avoid bankruptcy, Pittman’s thoughts are dead air, a source close to the situation said.

Reps from iHeart owners Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners have been present at creditor meetings — including a key one last week to address iHeart’s $20 billion of debt — with no signs of Pittman, reports The NYPost.

Bob Pittman

Pittman, who has been chief of the troubled company since 2011, seems to have tuned out recently. iHeart declined comment.

iHeartMedia said on Thursday it offered creditors a new restructuring deal — but the two sides remain far apart.

Suffering under a staggering $20 billion pile of debt, iHM is racing to restructure its debt as it could run out of cash in the first half of 2018, sources said.

If iHM, which is owned by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, can’t reach a deal with creditors, it could be forced into Chapter 11.

One person close to the talks said, with the current proposal not being well received, there is a 75 percent chance of a court-supervised restructuring.

In the most recent proposal, debt-riddden iHM offered creditors a near 50-50 ownership split in an out-of-court restructuring — but allowed the PE owners to recoup more than $3 billion, including equity and bonds.

Three months ago, the PE firms’ offer would have allowed them to recoup about half that much through a prepack Chaper 11, one source told The NYPost.

“We’re back at square one,” the source noted.

Meanwhile, iHeart’s biggest creditor, mutual fund Franklin Resources, which owns about $2.3 billion of its $20 billion in debt, is offering the private equity firms about a $300 million recovery.