Saturday, November 6, 2010

If Stern leaves XM/Sirius ...

From TheHollywoodReporter:

Matthew Harrigan at Wunderlich Securites figures that if Howard Stern stays on at his current salary of $100 million annually at Sirius XM, or if he leaves and takes 1 million subscribers with him, it's a wash, financially speaking. Sirius XM won't disclose how many of its 19.9 million subscribers listen Stern, but Harrigan estimates it's about 3 million. And he said that if Stern and Sirius XM drag out negotiations, it's a good thing.

"We actually regard an extended face-off as a form of free marketing for both Stern and Sirius," Harrigan wrote in his reasearch note Of course, if Sirius XM can sign Stern for less money, or if he leaves and fewer than 1 million subscribers defect, it can be a plus for shareholders.