Officially Rebranded PodcastOne Begins Trading on Nasdaq
PodcastOne, which began trading on Nasdaq under its new name at the open of the market on Tuesday (9/26), officially changes its name from Courtside Group, Inc to PodcastOne, Inc. Parent company LiveOne owns approximately 81% of the new company, which recently converted the
remaining unsecured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of $5.8 million at $3 per share. Following this transaction, the company is now debt free. The Courtside Group name was of the parent company founded by the late Norm Pattiz, who was known for sitting courtside at Los Angeles Lakers games from many years. PodcastOne’s president and co-founder Kit Gray comments, “The corporate name change to PodcastOne, Inc provides a true characterization of our company as one of the 10 largest podcast publishers in the U.S., ranked ahead of media giants Paramount, CNN and FOX.”
celebrates the completion of its direct listing on Nasdaq and spin-out as a separate public company. After the spin-out, LiveOne will own approximately 80% of PodcastOne (on a non-fully diluted basis) and continue to consolidate PodcastOne’s financial results. LiveOne says it expects PodcastOne shares at $8 per share minimum.
listing on Nasdaq. “PODC” has been reserved as the trading symbol for PodcastOne’s common stock. LiveOne senior management will host a live conference call and audio webcast to provide business developments and details of the planned spinout of PodcastOne at 1:30 pm ET tomorrow (8/17).
WBEN/Buffalo Adds the Armstrong & Getty Show. The Armstrong & Getty Show has added yet another major market – WBEN, Buffalo. The Audacy-owned outlet is one of the most respected news/talk radio stations in the country having won numerous state, regional, and national awards for its news reporting. It is also one of the country’s heritage stations, tracing its beginning to 1922. WBEN operations director/Audacy news talk format VP Tim Wenger tells TALKERS, “We’re thrilled to have Armstrong & Getty as part of the evening lineup at WBEN. Their entertaining approach to current events and politics is a refreshing way to cap off the daylong programming on the station.” In a joint statement, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty (pictured above left) say, “We’re excited to join the list of great radio voices that have been part of Buffalo and WBEN. Now, more than ever, it’s important that folks get a perspective from outside the mainstream media. We’re here to be that honest voice.” For more information about The Armstrong & Getty Show, contact Eric Weiss at The Weiss Agency: 
Las Vegas Abuzz Over Raiders and Jimmy Garoppolo. Nationally syndicated, Las Vegas-based TALKERS Heavy Hundred host Dr. Daliah Wachs of the Genesis Communications Network met and received a jersey signed by the new Las Vegas Raider‘s quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The two are pictured (right) at an NFL “Salute To Service” event at Nellis Air Force Base. Wachs tells TALKERS, “The region is hopeful that Garoppolo will add that winning spark to the team if only he stays healthy.”
.048 shares of PodcastOne in the special dividend for each LiveOne share they own. LiveOne also says that the spin-out would allow for repayment of $3 million of PodcastOne’s convertible debt. However, LiveOne also states that “PodcastOne’s planned direct listing, amount of the special dividend and LiveOne’s shareholders’ dividend eligibility shall be subject to obtaining approval from the applicable national exchange and compliance with applicable rules and regulations and trading and listing requirements. There can be no assurance that PodcastOne’s efforts will result in the consummation of the proposed direct listing and/or special dividend.”
says that in 2020, “Carolla made history when he partnered with 
dividend of PodcastOne shares to between 12% and 16%. After completion of the successful spin-out – which the company notes is not guaranteed to happen – LiveOne will own approximately 86.3% of the PodcastOne common stock. LiveOne also reports that PodcastOne has repaid $1 million of its debt convertible at $3 and expects to repay an additional $1 million to $2 million. LiveOne intends for PodcastOne stock to be traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol PODC.
price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The notice indicated that it is a result of the closing bid price of the company’s common stock having been at least $1.00 per share for a minimum required number of consecutive business days. Separately, today (4/7) is the date that LiveOne has set for spinning out PodcastOne as its own publicly traded company.
“This endeavor marks an exciting introduction into gamification and monetization for PodcastOne, its host talent, and advertisers allowing them to create or sponsor relevant and topical content for fans that will reside on PodcastOne.com. MiniGames created by PodcastOne show hosts will also be distributed across the vast VersusGame MiniGames Network which includes over 900 verified hosts.” PodcastOne president Kit Gray says, “Our partnership with VersusGame is another way for us to capitalize on fan engagement. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us and for our hosts to engage with fans in an interactive way. Offering users the chance to win financially, while also generating internal revenue is a win for everyone. Bringing gamification into the PodcastOne world brings our listeners into our shows in a whole new way. Now they get to engage directly with show hosts and participate in the conversation. It elevates the listener’s experience like never before.”
Securities Exchange Commission. For the company as a whole, LiveOne reports Q3 Fiscal 2023 revenue of $27.3 million – a decrease of 17% from the same period in Fiscal 2022. However, the company has reduced its net loss for the quarter from $11.8 million in Fiscal 2022 to $3.2 million. Its Audio Division that includes PodcastOne and Slacker produced record revenue of $22 million in Q3 Fiscal 2023 compared to $19.1 million in the same period in the 
prior year. LiveOne’s CEO and chairman Robert Ellin comments, “Over the past year, we have been laser focused on optimizing and streamlining our operations, led by our audio business, which includes Slacker Radio and PodcastOne. The combination of improving Contribution Margins, coupled with over $30 million in annual expense and overhead reduction, is resulting in record operating results. We are excited about the continued strong growth of paid memberships coming largely through B-to-B partnerships, including our nine-year relationship with Tesla. We expect our strong operating performance to continue for the foreseeable future led by our Audio Division and for it to collectively achieve revenue in excess of $88 million in Fiscal 2023 and generate more than $18 million in Adjusted EBITDA.”
and acquisitions. Berk is currently chairman and CEO of Goodman Media Partners, investing in early-stage media and tech companies. PodcastOne co-founder Kit Gray comments, “Jim has an impressive track record of working with public companies and has extensive knowledge of our business. We are thrilled to bring his expertise back in the company and on our board during this crucial period of growth for PodcastOne as we are launching our IPO.”
quarter of fiscal year 2023, the company expects revenue to be $27 million. It adds that the audio division that includes Slacker and PodcastOne will report revenue of $21.6 million for FY/2023 Q3 and for the first nine months of the fiscal year expects to report revenue of $63.5 million. LiveOne previously announced its intent to spin out PodcastOne as a separate, publicly traded company and plans to IPO Slacker this year.
On December 29, 2022, the company revealed that Courtside Group, Inc. (dba PodcastOne) has filed an S-1 with the SEC for its planned spin-out and special dividend to LiveOne’s stockholders of record on January 16, 2023. The company says that PodcastOne is expected to record revenue of $25 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2023 ending December 31, 2022.
CMS is the platform where podcast episodes are uploaded, RSS feeds are created and distributed to listening platforms, and the listening data is analyzed and displayed in a dashboard for the creators/producers to see. This fully owned and operated enterprise CMS rivals other paid platforms such as Megaphone (Spotify-owned), Art19 (Amazon-owned) and SimpleCast (SiriusXM/Pandora-owned). The CMS’ day-to-day operation and maintenance is managed by a vendor we contract with and is constantly being updated to be a best-in-class system. LiveOne remains committed to spinning-out PodcastOne as a separate public company to be listed on a national exchange. In connection with such spin-out, LiveOne has moved the record date to Jan. 16, 2023 for PodcastOne’s special dividend to LiveOne’s stockholders of record. In addition, LiveOne intends to explore spinning-out SlackerOne as a separate public company during its 2024 fiscal year.”
