Can anyone here say "Martha Stewart?"
" promised his fans on Sirius a stripper pole, live sex and other programming that would be likely to raise the ire of federal regulators."
I don't care for Stern, but you've got to hand it to him for the deal he cooked up. What exactly does a stripper pole sound like on the radio, and how sad are the people who signed up to listen?
How bullish is he on the company that he sold that much immediately?
So, a secret deal that allows someone to obtain shares of a publicly traded company based on meeting secret targets? Interesting. Did he sell those shares based on inside information about ratings or targets?
You better believe he's bailing. Pay-radio is going to hit its peak pretty quickly. I don't see it as a particularly strong "growth" industry. Once the truckers are done subscribing, it'll be steady as she goes in flyover country.
Personally, it wouldn't occur to me in a bajillion years to pay for my radio, but I live close enough to cities that there's a pretty huge selection of free stations available. I imagine pay radio will get most of it's non-trucker business from really rural areas that are out of "air-shot" (badda-bing) of any city.
I have Dish Network and they make all people subsidize something I will never listen.
So in fact I am helping to pay for this, it is about 8 % of my bill.
Too bad I like dish but it pi$$ me off.
Howie's getting his financial advice from Bill Shatner.
Stern might be a scumbag, but he is not stupid. He knows that the value of his stock will only go down from here.
Isn't the headline somewhat misleading?
The way I read it, he and his agent were given the stock and the right to sell it, but haven't yet made any move to do so.
Howard Stern Responsible For More Than Half Of New Sirius Subscribers
January 6, 2006
Sirius Satellite Radio announced a subscriber increase of 1,142,000 during the fourth quarter of 2005, and according to a new study from Bridge Ratings, 22 percent of Sirius' sign-ups during the week of October 3 alone were due directly to Howard Stern joining the satcaster. Bridge Ratings conducted surveys at retail outlets throughout the fourth quarter, and as Sirius marketing, awareness and the holiday season progressed, subscribers who signed on for Stern reached 58 percent in the week prior to Christmas. They topped 60 percent in the final three shopping days of the holiday season. The other reasons most commonly given for signing up for Sirius were "programming variety" and "no commercials."
Bridge Ratings projects that 715,000 of Sirius' fourth quarter sign-ups were due directly to Stern, and they also predict that during the month of January 2006, an additional 390,000 new subscribers will sign up to hear Howard. Bridge plans to continue monitoring the progress of Stern listeners on Sirius and will provide weekly trending and quarterly updates through 2006.
Sirrius is going to look back on this as one of thier biggest financials BLUNDERS! Stern is not stupid. He knows he's not worth all that money.
why? because their stock has dipped 5.9% since his debut...so now hes gonna try and float it himself??
Activity surrounding the stock of Sirius Satellite Radio was in hyperdrive Wednesday after the company revealed that its star talent, the very well-paid Howard Stern, can sell his considerable equity in the company any time he chooses to. Never a laggard to begin with, Sirius trading volume reached a whopping 130.8 million shares, making it the most active issue Wednesday on the Nasdaq exchange, where shares dropped 5.9% to $6.12. In trading Thursday, Sirius shares climbed 21 cents or 3.43% to $6.33. By contrast, Time Warner, the world's biggest media conglomerate, traded a mere 18.6 million shares Wednesday. The slide in the stock price wiped out nearly $12 million in wealth from Stern and almost $1.2 million from Don Buchwald, the shock jock's manager. Stern was awarded 31.25 million shares of Sirius on Monday, the day his show debuted on the No. 2 satellite radio concern, while Buchwald was given 3.125 million shares.
I never listen to Stern, but he is smart to unload the shares as soon as possible; especilly since the company has lost $2.4 billion in such a short time.
They can give this guy $200M in stock but apparently can't afford Fox News Channel anymore. Kind of like how I won't be able to 'afford' my subscription pretty soon...
Of course he's selling. These stocks will tank within about six months.