In a memo issued to employees this morning, iHeartMedia Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman and President/CFO/COO Rich Bressler have implemented a round of cost savings tactics “to get through this difficult economic time while protecting our employee base as much as possible”.

Among the moves being made are to temporarily suspend their 401(k) match starting next pay perioud until the advertising marketplace improves, a hiring freeze except on mission critical roles, and stopping or reducing all discretionary spending, including non-essential T&E, overtime, outside vendor spend, temporary contractors, etc..

The memo issued by Pittman and Bressler reads:

Team,

Although we’ve made great strides in our business and have built a leadership position across all audio platforms thanks to your extraordinary efforts, we are not immune from the headwinds caused by the economic pressures we read about in the headlines every day — and that is forcing us to make tough choices on costs and priorities.

Our goal is to do everything we can to get through this difficult economic time while protecting our employee base as much as possible. Therefore, we’ll be implementing the following necessary cost savings:

• Temporarily suspending the 401(k) match starting in your next pay period and for future months until the advertising marketplace improves. Please note that any contributions made so far this year will not be affected.
• We will only be backfilling mission critical roles.
• Stopping or reducing all discretionary spending, including non-essential T&E, overtime, outside vendor spend, temporary contractors, etc.

These measures are part of our proactive plan to keep our company healthy in the slowdown and to be fully ready for an economic recovery.

We appreciate your commitment to iHeart, to our communities and to our partners, and we are confident we will successfully navigate through this period and be well-positioned for growth when the economic pressures subside.

Bob and Rich