This looks like good news for holders of both. Their revenues are good, but they're being eaten alive by the billions they're spending on destructive competition/new subscriber recruitment.. Once they scale that back, the positive cashflows should look good to a lot of investors.
I'm a Sirius subscriber. I love all the music and of course Howard Stern, but it would be great to get baseball this year.
Can someone explain what 13 billion dollar merger of equal means? SIRI is like 5 billion market cap and XM is under 4 billion. How did we get to 13 billion? I understand both own 50% so XM shares will receive a premium but how does it equal 13 billion if neither is worth 6.5 billion as of Friday even.
if there's moves to be made, they'll gap up right at pre open... then it'll get faded .... then it'll go back up halfway just to get you excited, and then it'll get faded again when the FTC announces no. regardless, if you were in before, you'll do well. I am curious how the market will price this. just bummed out i owned the pair last week and parted with it after a 10% loss 3 trading days ago... (most of the loss on xmsr side)
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/fcc-chairman-says-rules-ban-satellite-radio-merger.html "Gee, who saw this coming? The FCC Chairman today indicated that Sirius and XM Satellite Radio wouldn't win approval of a merger under current U.S. Federal Communications Commission rules. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters during a news conference that "there's a prohibition on one entity owning both of those licenses." He is of course talking about the key Safeguard established by the FCC in March 1997 that dictated the policies for the new satellite radio services." So who wins in this merger? The lawyers of course. Much money will be spent trying to circumvent the FCC rules. Also I win because now I won't have to switch over to XM to get Major League Baseball!
"The deal faces substantial obstacles in Washington, including a Federal Communications Commission provision that specifically forbids the two companies to combine. Analysts have noted that the FCC could change the rule, but in a statement late Monday FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that the "hurdle" would be "high" to prove that the deal would be in the public interest. "The companies would need to demonstrate that consumers would clearly be better off with both more choice and affordable prices," Martin said. A combination would also have to meet antitrust approval from the Department of Justice. The companies are expected to argue that they compete not only with each other but also with traditional radio and a growing base of digital audio sources such as iPods, mobile phones and non-satellite digital radio."