Oh this is rich... makes the XM/Sirius/Howard issue hilarious...

[Rosco T.]

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/01/11/ap2443657.html

Stern Moves to Sell $200M in Sirius Stock

Just three days after starting his new job at Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., shock jock Howard Stern is now able to sell the roughly $200 million in Sirius stock that he received as part of his five-year deal with the company.

(snip)

On Wednesday, the company made another regulatory filing saying that entities controlled by Stern and his agent, Don Buchwald, would receive the proceeds of the sale of the shares, which could occur at any time. It's not yet clear when or how much they will sell, and Buchwald did not return a call seeking comment.

(snip)

Sirius is engaged in a high-stakes battle with its rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. to build up programming and subscribers in hopes of becoming profitable one day. Sirius said in its regulatory filing Wednesday that as of last Sept. 30 it had racked up an accumulated loss of $2.4 billion so far.

(snip)

Sirius shares fell 28 cents or 4.3 percent to $6.22 in active trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market Wednesday, while XM shares rose 29 cents, or almost 1 percent, to $29.87 also on the Nasdaq.

---------------------------------------

Makes you wonder how secure Howard feels in the future of the company and it's stock price don't it??

[Atman]

1. Didn't he get $500 million?

Taking $200 million out NOW is a very smart move. He would have been crazy not to.

[rinsd]

3. $100 mil in cash and stock a year for 5 years.....

What happened is that Sirius reached subscriber targets in their contract with Stern which triggered boosted stock options.

[Rosco T.]

4. $500 mil is his salary

the $500 million is his salary, this was 'iceing on the cake'... but stock prices fall even the market seems not to have a lot of faith... SIRI was $7.98/share on 12/12/05 and today was $6.22 down over a dollar in less than a month.

[rinsd]

2. I think the stock has doubled since Stern signed the deal....

...and Sirius has tripled their subscribers.

[Rosco T.]

5. (edit) OUCH! look at the stock prices the last 5 days...

Howard went on the air on 1/9 didn't he??





looks like people taking profit from SIRI and moving it to XMSR???

[rinsd]

8. He better get off the air! ;-)

[Ian David]

6. XM Has Air America Radio. Sirius does not.

The only thing keeping me from buying XM is that they carry James Dobson's hate network.

[Rosco T.]

7. Just block the channel out and enjoy the rest.

XM is way blue'er than most think (check www.buyblue.org)

[Ian David]

9. I won't pay money to a company that broadcasts them

Pretend I owned two satellite radio stations.

On one of them, I broadcast progressive talk and great music that you love. In fact, it's the best radio station ever. It's the only radio station you ever want to listen to-- ever.

On the other station, there are people who spend all day talking about how "Rosco T" and his family are going to destroy Western Civilization. And that "Rosco T" leads a destructive and evil lifestyle and is damned to Hell because "Rosco T" wants to molest people's children.

Would you pay $10 a month to listen to the good station, knowing that half of your money is going toward telling the world that "Rosco T" is dangerous and evil, even if you yourself don't have to listen to it?

Do you want to pay someone to tell the world why they should want to kill you?

[NYCGirl]

10. So you won't support AAR because there's another channel on the dial

that you'll never listen to anyway? That's certainly throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[Ian David]

12. I listen to AAR on radio and via streaming, patronize their advertisers

And when I do business with the advertisers, I tell them I heard them on Air America Radio.

For example, I ordered flowers from that company advertised on The Al Franken Show.

And I drove to the home of the Doctor's Nightgaurd guy and woke him up in the middle of the night to complain about his awful commercial. I told him Wendy the Hypnotist made me do it.

[NYCGirl]

14. Good.

Keep it up.

[Ian David]

20. The flowers were great, by the way.

I wish I could remember the name of the company off the top of my head though.

I think Wendy erased it.

[NYCGirl]

21. Yep — I heard one of those Wendy commercials today...it got through

the bumper music!

Edited to add: I can't play the radio in my office at work — not near enough to a window. So I have to stream it online during the day.

[Rosco T.]

15. how well does that stream work in the car?? or out jogging?? n/m

[Ian David]

19. iPod n/t

[Rosco T.]

11. and how do you know that Dobson isn't PAYING XM to be on?? Hmmm???

and where do you get the 'half your money' jive?

how about (in your words) the 'half' that ISN'T going to AAR?

[Ian David]

16. I was using a simplified analogy

"Pretend I owned 75 radio stations and 1/75 of your money went to "The Randi T Is Evil Channel..."

Better?

On edit: More of an allegory than an analogy, I guess?

[Rosco T.]

22. still really irrelavant...

since you don't KNOW what the carriage arrangement is (and I don't either, but I'll look into it).

- if Dobson pays XM, it's most likely a flat fee, so your sub would make no difference
- if he's paying by subscriber, then it cost HIM money to be on.
- if XM is paying him, it's most likely a flat fee, since there is no real 'ratings' mechanism built it.

sorry mate, your argument is specious.

[Ian David]

23. Why do you hate freedom?

Actually, I don't know.

[Rosco T.]

24. yes, why do you???

they're free to broadcast their crap.. you're free to block the channel.

Your method, since your sub dosen't grow their share, just punishes the other channels.

[Ian David]

25. I'm a freedom-hating rejectionist. You caught me.

:P

[Rosco T.]

13. and...

you do know that you can have XM block channels right? So that it goes down at "Dobson = Blocked" on the record.. their record so to speak???

[Ian David]

18. If someone is yelling, "Kill Rosco T" outside your house...

would you feel better if you couldn't actually hear the angry mob calling for your death?

Would you pay for their megaphone?

[Maat]

27. Would that be that 'Family Talk?'

I turned it on 170 today - to see exactly what they called "family talk." It was just religious right drivel. I hope there isn't a customer out there who actually thinks it is family talk. Al Mohler, of the Southern Baptists, was going on and on about men's roles and women's roles, and how churches were masculine. It was crazy.

[Ikonoklast]

17. When a large block of stock is sold at one time

or over several sessions, the price usually drops. He may have been given that stock for .10 a share.


I bought 1K of Sirius stock at .92 a share.:thumbsup:

[soothsayer]

26. He implies that the $500 mil covers all of the salaries at both of

his channels (and doesn't confirm that $500 mil figure)

[Grown2Hate]

28. Give it a few years. XM and Sirius will merge to create a SUPER-MEGA...

... satellite radio. For now, I'm on Sirius for all the Howard I can handle. :) And we may not have AAR, but I can still get AAR on my AM dial, and Sirius has several left leaning stations anyhow. As well as NPR and NPR Now. AND Fox News just canceled their channel. Either way, satellite is the wave of the future. Having a BALL with my new Sirius (thanks to my gorgeous GF for Xmas). Anyhow, just my 2 cents. (And yes, I bought stock as SOON as Howard announced he'd be going to Sirius. It was at $3.12 a share or so, and within a couple months it jumped to $9.43 a share. It's leveled out at around $6.20, but I've still more than doubled my money. Thanks almost solely to Howard.)