Randall Mays is stepping down as President and CFO of Clear Channel Communications, the radio giant acquired over a year ago by Bain Capital and THL Partners. He will continue as Vice Chairman of the company and will have a seat on the board, and will continue with the company in a more strategic rather than hands on role.
Once a replacement is found, brother Mark P. Mays will become President and CEO.
Mark Mays made the announcement in a memo to Clear Channel employees.
Here it is in its entirety as published by the New York Times:
“Greetings,
“I’m writing to share with you that Randall has decided to scale back his time commitment to Clear Channel. He will become Vice Chairman of the company and hand over day to day financial duties to a new CFO once he/she is in place. At that time, I will once again be President and CEO. It’s important to know that Randall will go on serving our company at the highest level. He will remain a director of the Company, his office will remain next to mine, and he will continue to be invaluable in helping us steer the strategic direction of Clear Channel. Randall’s contract term remains unchanged through 2013.
“During Randall’s tenure, he has been widely recognized as one of the nation’s top CFOs. While he will be a tough act to follow, we have an active search for a new CFO underway and we have been impressed with the caliber and number of candidates that have been identified.
“Please join me in thanking Randall for his outstanding contributions to the Company and congratulating him on his forthcoming role.”
RBR-TVBR observation: There is no indication that this is anything other than a personal decision on the part of Randall Mays, but it certainly is not unusual for new management to start bringing in its own executive team.
As for the next individual to occupy the CFO chair, Bain and THL will have to find a magician to deal with the repercussions of their ill-timed acquisition. They took over Clear Channel just as the advertising business tanked and stations values plummeted. It’ll be a long time before the Bain/THL books will look good on this one.
