Cumulus Media Emerges From Chapter 11: Old Equity Canceled, $50M Convertible Notes Issued, Going Private
Summary
Cumulus Media emerged from Chapter 11 today with about $600 million of debt canceled in exchange for reorganized equity and $50 million of new convertible notes. Existing shareholders were wiped out — old stock was canceled with no recovery — and the company plans to deregister and operate privately.
Key Events · Financing and Capital Events · CMLS
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Chapter 11 Plan Effective, Company Emerges
The Modified Joint Prepackaged Plan became effective October 16, 2026 and Cumulus emerged from Chapter 11, ahead of the October 27, 2026 deadline extended in the August 14 10-Q.
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Old Equity Canceled With No Recovery
All pre-emergence Class A and Class B common stock was canceled and extinguished without any distribution; former holders receive nothing and the shares have no value.
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New Equity and $50M Convertible Notes Issued
638,000 new shares were issued (352,025 Class A, 285,975 Class B) plus $50 million of 10%/8% Senior Secured PIK Toggle Convertible Notes due 2031; holders of Allowed 2029 Secured Claims received about 95% of the new stock and Other Funded Debt Claims about 5%.
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New $100M ABL Facility and Debt Reduction
A four-year $100 million asset-based revolver with Fifth Third Bank replaced the prepetition facility, and roughly $600 million of funded debt was canceled in the restructuring.
Analysis · CMLS · Technology
Cumulus completed its prepackaged Chapter 11 and emerged today, ahead of the October 27 deadline it had extended in August. The economics are now concrete: roughly $600 million of funded debt was canceled in exchange for 100% of the reorganized equity plus $50 million of new 10%/8% PIK-toggle convertible notes due 2031, and a new $100 million ABL revolver replaces the prepetition facility. For anyone still holding the old CMLS shares, the outcome is total loss — all pre-emergence Class A and Class B stock was canceled with no distribution, and the new common stock (638,000 shares total) went to former lenders, roughly 95% to the 2029 secured claim holders. The company also intends to file a Form 15 to suspend its SEC reporting and deregister, and the new shares and notes will not trade on any exchange, so the public float effectively disappears. Control now sits with the lender group: Next Gen Radio (an Alden Global affiliate) gets board designation rights, a two-director quorum requirement, and consent rights over bylaw amendments while it holds at least 15%.
How filings like this one have moved
In the 30 days to Oct 16, 2026, 44.7% of the 302 measured filings Wiseek scored 9 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.26%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
Measured one observation per ticker per day, after exclusions. Current figures: Filing Impact Tracker · open dataset
At the time of this filing, CMLS was trading at $0.05 on OTC in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $12.6M. This filing was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 9 out of 10.