NEW YORK, May 24, 2026, 15:03 EDT
- Urban One Class A shares gained around 7% last week. Its Class D shares dropped.
- Nasdaq will be closed Monday, May 25, for Memorial Day. Trading picks up again on Tuesday.
- This week sets up with recent earnings, soft ad demand and the Dallas radio deal in focus.
Urban One Inc.’s Class A shares closed at $6.015 on Friday, May 22, up about 7% for the week. That move came ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, with U.S. markets closed for the long weekend.
The stock’s swing is in focus since Nasdaq won’t open again until Tuesday. Nasdaq has Memorial Day, May 25, as a holiday, with trading hours for other weekdays still set at 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
Urban One’s Class A shares saw only about 17,060 shares change hands on Friday, with the stock moving in a range from $5.65 to $6.329, still a long way from its 52-week high at $19.00. The rebound came on light volume. For the day, the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.19% and the S&P 500 added 0.37%, making for a firmer tone across smaller media stocks.
Urban One’s Class D shares, UONEK, ended Friday at $4.80, falling 1.4% for the session. That’s nearly 6% under where they finished May 15, StockAnalysis data show.
Urban One’s Q1 is still weighing on the stock. The company said May 14 that net revenue dropped 15.8% to $77.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $4.7 million, down from $12.9 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, plus some company adjustments. CEO Alfred C. Liggins III said revenue was “soft across all divisions.” PR Newswire
Quarterly numbers laid out the problems: radio revenue kept falling as both national and local advertisers pulled back, digital revenue slid after drops in campaign spending tied to diversity, equity and inclusion, and cable TV lost ground from fewer subscribers and lower ad sales.
Urban One’s Dallas deal stays in focus this week. The company said on May 1 it would buy Service Broadcasting Group, picking up Dallas stations KKDA and KRNB, while selling KZMJ. Those deals still wait on FCC approval and other closing steps. Liggins described the deal as “accretive” and said it pushes forward Urban One’s consolidation plan. Urban One
iHeartMedia posted first-quarter revenue of $884 million, a 9.6% increase, boosted by digital audio. CEO Bob Pittman said the mid-term election cycle could make 2026 a “significant year” for adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. The peer read on the quarter is mixed. iHeartMedia
Cumulus Media is tougher to compare. Net revenue for the first quarter dropped 12.2%, with broadcast radio revenue down 19.3%. CEO Mary Berner called court approval of the company’s reorganization plan a “pivotal milestone.” The FCC still has to sign off. Businessinsider
The pressure isn’t unique to one firm. In April, Reuters said a U.S. judge cleared Cumulus to restructure, slashing $592 million in debt. The company pointed to digital audio rivals, changes in ad spending, and shrinking radio listeners.
Urban One has about $1 million in political ad sales for the first quarter, with another $1 million lined up for the second quarter. That’s as the group faces soft commercial demand, and radio second-quarter pacing was down 2.6% compared with the year-ago period. Whether political advertising makes up for the slowdown is still an open question for the company.
But the downside is still in play. If ad demand, both local and national, stays weak, cable subscribers keep leaving, and DEI-driven digital campaigns do not come back, last week’s Class A rally could just be a thin move in a lightly traded name, not a sign of real change. The 10-for-1 reverse split in January—meant to get Class D shares back above Nasdaq’s $1 minimum—is still a sign that listing issues have hung over the stock this year.
Monday’s closure puts the focus on Tuesday as the week’s first full trading day. Traders are watching to see if the Class A bounce brings in new volume or slips back to the May lows.
