# Analyst: Viacom Stake in Sirius In Exchange For Early Stern Exit?



## xcel (Sep 13, 2004)

Infinity stands to reap significant revenue from Howard Stern during his final year with the company, hence COO Joel Hollander’s refusal to grant him an early exit for Sirius. But what if Infinity parent Viacom received a financial stake in the satcaster in exchange for letting Stern out of his contract before it expires in January 2006? 

That scenario could happen, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analysts. CBS MarketWatch reports on a research note summarizing trends to watch this year. In the note, Oppenheimer’s Peter Mirsky told clients he could see Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone trading an early Stern exit for a piece of Sirius - which saw its stock price soar in the fall, triggered by the company inking contracts with Stern and former Viacom COO Mel Karmazin. 

“It gives Viacom a stake in a technology that ad buyers are using as a stalking horse against broadcast radio and it brings a fast-growing investment into the fold,” CBS MarketWatch quotes Mirsky as saying.

Over-the-air radio investing in satellite radio is nothing new. Terrestrial leader Clear Channel is an early investor in XM.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

It could cause the stocks to increase even higher if this goes through allowing Stern on Sirius earlier helping Viacom out even more with their share of the Sirius stock. Is Stern really worth that much? I hear more people complaining about him than about watching his show.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Stern is already MORE than figured into the price of the stock at this point. Sirius is currently worth about 2/3 of what Dish is valued at. That's just ridiculous. Dish has over 11 Million customers paying about $50+ per month each. Sirius has 1 million customers paying on average under $11 per month. Sure, Sirius can eventually have more customers, but they are limited in what they can charge those customers each month (or annually). I just don't see them being worth what they are today looking at future potential. There are also WAY too many shares outstanding and I am sure they will have to issue even more shares in the future. I have shares in both and hope both do well, but I just can't see Sirius continuing other than on the back of market hype. 

Dish = 454 Million shares at $32 = $14.5 Billion total value.
Sirius = 1.3 BILLION shares at $7.1 = $9.23 Billion total value.


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