What Citadel could have done

It is easy to be a "Monday Morning Quarterback." And yes, hindsight is 20-20. But there are steps which Citadel could have taken after the ABC deal closed but before the credit market tanked. They could/should have:

• Sold off the network/syndication business. That would have raised a pile of cash and allowed management to focus on running the radio business.

• Bundled their tower assets and sold them as a package to a tower consolidator. Towers were trading a significantly higher multiples than radio stations during that time (and still are).

• Drawn a line at market # 50, and sold all of their smaller markets to entrepreneurs (who were lined up to buy at the time). Not unlike CBS, Citadel's core competencies are best suited to major market operations.

• Negotiated a debt for equity swap with their lenders, conditioned upon (and priced based upon) all of the above occuring.

Those are my thoughts. What are yours?

George
Media Services Group