I think I'm in denial but I don't see much of a rosy future any time soon for siri. There's just too much against it but I have broken a cardinal rule and have a bit of a personal attachment as I worked close with them in the very early days and even held a small position from way back then. I think I'm going to add it to my list of losses for the year as I'm collecting losses today for 2008 taxes. Anyone see any reason to hang on to this crap?
This stock has massive debt so fundamentally it is not a good place to have your money. Furthermore, as people tighten their spending they will cut their subscriptions. I like satellite radio but this company has created too much debt to get out of I think and they pay Stern way too much. Stern has threatened to retire from SIRI after his contract ends. Bankruptcy might help them avoid paying this guy. They need to learn to live without Stern.
stern paid for himself budday. siri would not have been able to merge with xm had it not been for him. he brought millions of listeners. its the paying martha stewart, oprah, bode miller, millions of dollars for little added value.
Hey I agree with you, but this 100 million a year shit has to stop. They are going to have to learn to live without Stern at some point(whenever Howard retires). His retirement from satellite radio will happen eventually so at some point SIRI will have to deal with the loss of subscribers. You cannot expect to be a long term successful company that is responsible to shareholders when your lifeline is tied up to a guy that has a history of getting pissed at ownership and has recently said he will not re-sign with SIRI after 2010. I agree he pulled his weight in gold, but I do not agree with paying a guy that much money to do what he does for a living, I just can't believe how much they paid him and offered him in stock. Just insane money. Maybe I am totally incorrect but when you start paying someone that amount of money it drives up costs as it sets a standard way to pay people or organizations like NFL, MLB, etc. Peace and best of luck to you all in the beginning of '09
I think if Stern left Sirius membership would drop by a substantial percentage. I would venture to guess 25% of SIRI subscribers (Sirius, not XM) did so and continue to do so because of channels 100 and 101. He has more than earned his money and if he leaves it will be a huge blow. Sirius alone could not survive it - and now that it is Sirius/XM it will still be tough.
I never saw a future in satellite services because I figured it would be leapfrogged by the Internet. I listen to Internet music an shows all the time and in few years we will be able to get it in cars and in a few more years new cars will come with an Internet interface as standard. It will all be wireless and there will be no need of satellites.
the previous poster nailed the real problem at SIRI.....it is a business which is doomed to fail in the future,,,,,,,,,much like the internet has doomed print newspapers , in time...