Sirius, GM, AIG: Where Is the Leadership in American Boardrooms? 49 comments
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Finding out that XM Sirius (SIRI) lost nearly $5B in the third quarter (not spent, or in the year, we’re talking losses in three months) is akin to finding out that the pizza parlor next to our office spent $13M in green peppers. It’s shocking, criminal, numbing.
Is this what the US “leaders of industry” have come to? Mel Karmazin, a media guru, orchestrates this joke of a merger and proceeds to lose $4.88B in three months? Sure, satellite radio is reliant on the car industry, but don’t even get me started on those guys. Where does it say in the Bible that “thou shall be Three Big Carmakers, and the US taxpayer shall compensate for their mismanagement…”
And if that’s not enough, we find out that AIG needs a bailout… from its bailout.
A joke, this is what the US economy is right now. My favorite part about this crime is the fact that the Republicans were calling Barack Obama a socialist and we’re now seeing socialism across the board, from Manhattan, down to Washington DC, via Detroit and on to SF.
What on earth is happening in board rooms?
Where is the leadership?
We need Jack Welch, Warren Buffett et al to barge into some of these board rooms with a few baseball bats and toss these criminals out of these companies and onto their arses. Why on earth should your average, hard-working American pay taxes these days? Tell me, why?
All right, I feel better… let me go read about the next round of layoffs.
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Nice to see 8 years of foolish and arrogant foreign policy hasn't softened the ethnocentrism of some of the US readers on this page ;)
Good thing I read your comments at the bottom, because you saved yourself in that section, from a pretty mediocre blog.
Mel just got in over his head and didn't have Sumner Redstone's wallet backing him up this time.
XM SIRIUS should be a very profitable company. But, it's not even close and I'm not sure it ever will be unless they can redo their contracts with the talent they acuquired. XM Sirius gave outrageous contracts to obtain the entertainment, and not just the egregious $500M to Howard Stern, but millions on top of that to Martha, Oprah, Chris Russo, the major sporting leagues, etc. Many compare SATRAD to HBO, where you pay to subscribe, well HBO didn't give Tony Soprano a 9 figure contract.
Yes, we do need real leadership in our boardrooms. There is just one problem, no CEO is truly accountable. It seems no matter how badly they lead their company they can just float away on a golden parachute and live quite comfortably for the next 30 lifetimes; meanwhile the employees and shareholders foot the bill and end up wishing they had a bag of beans instead of the nearly worthless stock they still own. At least the beans may grown into something someday. The beans may grow into a beanstalk where they climb it and see their former CEO that cost the company billions, his 5,000 square foot mansion below. Executive compensation should be based on performance, instead its legalized larceny.
I am among the many folks on this blog who are disturbed by your blog. There is no justification, by any means, to add Sirius into any discussion with AIG or GM.
AIG is detestable, along with many other investment firms and have been a main catalyst for the downturn in our economy. Their shady deals and even shadier leaders, have cost our country billions (along with Lehman and the likes). AIG's board exec's should have all of their assets and bonuses frozen and given back to the good folks whom they have robbed.
Admiitadly, GM has been severely mis-managed, but their industry is suffering the worst from the current economic environment and instability in the oil industry, which is out of their control. GM and other car manufacturers NEED financial assistance due to diabolical investment firms like AIG and their borderline criminal behavior.
As for Sirius....give me a break!!! What have they done wrong or done to contibute to our recession???? NOTHING. It is just a merger between two organizations who had the common sense to join hands, rather than fight each other (which is the main reason that neither made any money). Once the hard road of the merger is over, this new media giant will have cost synergies and combined content that will do nothing but make the consumer delighted and the organization financially viable. Besides, Sirius isn't looking for BILLIONS from the government, they are only looking for a relatively small loan (versus AIG and GM) to get them through the merger.
I just don't see how you can associate these three TOTALLY unique businesses and their different needs in the same headlines???
I just don't see the connection sir.
> jack
***Problem being: you need carmakers to grow your business... and carmakers in turn need financials to offer cheap credit...***
Which I think makes it hard for SATRAD to take off... especially now.
GM and other auto-makers have been unable to compete for years. No one would support their mis-management unless that person is making money from it and want more from bailouts.
Telling concerned persons who suggest improvements to pack their suitcase will only end up making this country weaker and leave room for persons such as yourself to profiteer from misery without the benefit of alternate opinions.
Get a clown suit, you're not part of any solution.
On Nov 11 06:08 PM sl62 wrote:
> Ashkan Karbasfrooshan...
>
> Sorry but your article is a joke!! How about you get a clue?
>
> 1. What you call a "joke" of an economy still supports your lifestyle
> A-hole. How would you like to be in a soup line, Dufus? If you don't
> like this country, why don't you do us all a favor and hit the road!!
> Go overseas and hang out there and write your articles (that's if
> they let you!)
>
> 2. The AIG "bailout" not only keeps you in your worthless lifrstyle,
> but it's aka A LOAN! With interest Duf (short for Dufus). Do you
> know what that means? That's right Duf, on your behalf, your joke
> government will be making money on interest. Billions Duf! Hey Duf,
> do you know that one of the functions of YOUR government is as the
> lender of last resort, Duf? To keep your sorry arse out of a soup
> line A-hole? Buy a clue for 500 man.
>
> 3. GM...see #2 Duf!!
>
> 4. SIRI...Why are you a headline grabber? Did you even look at the
> metrics? Subs? Churn? Do you understand that 3 months does not this
> new combined company make, Duf? Do you even have a clue what that
> 4B number represents and why? Clearly not. You're a headline maven.
> You see a headline and you freak without understanding it. Aka, your
> a Dufus! Would it kill you to report the real story that SIRI revs
> are actually up 16% while ALL their competition reported negative
> revenues? But why report that? You duf...
>
> OK. Let's review.
>
> 1. You're a huge Dufus.
> 2. Where do they grow people like you?
> 3. You're not a fan of America so you hopefully right now are packing
> your suitcase.
> 4. While you're reading about the next round of layoffs, hopefully
> your name will be on that list!
> 5. You're irresponsible.
> 6. Hopefully this is your last joke article ever (of you even want
> to call it an article).
>
> There. You had your rant and I had mine. Duf.
SIRIUS/XM HAVE EVERY SINGLE CARMAKER IN THE UNIVERSE SIGNED WITH THEM!!!!!!
Just because GM, Ford and Chrysler are having big troubles doesn't mean that Sirius has no other car manufacturers to turn to. They dont need AIG for financing either.....lots of others out there willing to assist.
Sorry....not buying what you're selling
- When AOL/TWX merged and then wrote off $40B or so due to loss of shareholder value, was that paper loss also irrelevant? If mgmt orchestrates a merger and one short year later has to acknowledge that $5B in value evaporated, I don't care if it's an accounting loss or a real loss, it's a bad reflection on management.
- Which takes me once again to the crux of this post: management and candor. But yes, once the subject moved from management to investing, then I brought up the connection between the three industries because they are very much related... so if finance is non-existent and new car sales not happening, then why do we expect Sirius to do well.
- Wild guess here: Many of you are obviously long this stock, you defend them as if they've helped you buy a few homes and pay for your children's education. Last I checked, this stock is trading at $0.25. Have you lost all common sense in defending them? Why don't you attack them (the strategy, the execution, the executives who cash in massive pay while returning little to stockholders) instead of me for calling a spade a spade.
However, considering their entrenched position with carmakers, and at such levels, I admit that it's worth looking at the stock from a micro/unique perspective... but from a macro/systematic perspective, come on, stocks will continue to head down...
If everything goes according to plan, I can see why at these levels, there's enough of a safety of margin to dive in. But right now, I don't see much support in equity prices... More bad news to come...
I don't know why everyone is jumping on this Ashkan guy ......We aught to be jumping on CEO's that get massive golden parachutes , when they bail out of a failed company ..............hell , no one's going to pay ME to ruin my business !!!!!!!!! ...........Capitalism does NOT reward failure ..............so for all you blue blooded American capitalists out there - Ashkan is right ............we do crap ass backwards in this country ................and NO , I am not leaving .......and I'll damn sure give my opinion about MY COUNTRY ..................If we continue to PRINT money as a source of income ...WE ARE DOOMED ....you can take that to the bank ..................and the same goes for SIRI .....I don't care if you have a billion subs , if the frickin' income is negative , and you make money by PRINTING OR BORROWING ........well , eventually you have to pay the piper with earnings ...........that is just a fact of life
"I don't need 4,000 dollars worth of wall to wall airbags , my seatbelt is fine with me "
"hell , no one's going to pay ME to ruin my business !!!!!!!!!"
that's pretty funny...
Anyway, I'll add one serious thing re: SIRI. The company's billion dollar debt comes up next year, in 2009. How likely is it for shareholders to be wiped out?
Just saying.
but it wouldn't bother me a bit to close this mess with a 20k loss ......I've already made that back elsewhere
howard stern just applied to become a bank and he will lead sirius out of this mess in a brand new cadillac (hummer?) driven by the kamikaze pilot mel karmizan.