The first ten years

After ten years in business, Learfield had grown considerably but was plagued by debt caused in large part by over a half-million dollar in losses by Missouri Life magazine from ’77 to ’81.  At the end of the company’s ten years in business, October 31, 1982, bank debt was $822,000  And loans from shareholders amounted to $191,000.  Just three years earlier total debt was $267,000.  In 1983 network operations yielded $159,000 on sales of $2.8 Million; 5.6% on revenues, not bad for a growth-centered business.  Cash flow was nearly $300,000.  The largest three expense categories were:  salaries-20%; agency commissions-12% and line costs-10%.  Salaries and agency commissions we couldn’t do anything about, but I was about to fix that line cost category with satellite transmission.