- Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI -0.6%) says it's hoping to get a renewal from flagship radio host Howard Stern next month when his contract expires, but at least the company knows what it comes down to: money.
- Speaking from the investor day of majority owner Liberty Media (LMCA +1.8%), Sirius chief James Meyer said he's happy with the show's quality and the two sides disagree on just "one thing," the valuation of the new deal. Stern is estimated to get about $80M/year currently.
- Buybacks (currently about $2B worth a year) are the "best use of our capital," Meyer says. "We just haven't found anything that magically fits" in the space where acquisitions are clearly strategic or clearly accretive, he says.
- Earlier, Liberty Media said it would recapitalize into three tracking stocks, one of which will be Liberty Sirius Group to track its 60.7% holding in Sirius XM.
- Previously: Liberty Media to recapitalize into three tracking stock groups (Nov. 12 2015)