$150 mil to Howard... $32 mil to Mel.. and Sirius is still a struggling company.. nice.

Mel , Howard . That picture is just screaming for a caption.

Mel , Howard . That picture is just screaming for a caption.

Mel may deserve a bonus....maybe not quite this big. IMO he has driven this merger & that is just about the only hope that SIRI has of holding on. If he pulls this off he will go down in history as the genius who saved Sirius from Joe Clayton's stupidity.

At least someone is making money! :-P

I Keed! I Keed!

Mel and Howard rock. If it weren't for them, we'd still be at under a million subs. We are down for only one reason...the criminal delay of this merger.

Once it goes through, you will be glad you held, and sorry for ever bashing Mel & Howard.

So just chill. :-)

$150 mil to Howard... $32 mil to Mel...no wonder Sirius wanted to merger - they needed more $$$$ to pay them!!!!!

32 mil? Chump change for Chevron CEO's....

If the merger goes through, Mel earned his money. He rolled over XM management in the negotiations.

XM shareholders got 4.6 and should have easily been 6 or 7 if one compares the values of the two businesses. Mel's salary looks small by comparison to what he got SIRI's shareholders in the deal.

.....and now for the pro-Sirius, anti-XM idiots in why Mel deserves this money.

I can't wait for the spin!!!!!!!!!!

It's a-ok for SIRI management to make this kind of money, but not XM. Woot, yeah!

It's all about growth at any expense!! Yeah, baby, I said it! It's all about sub #'s! Woot! Who cares about the details. Retail growth tells the story, right?

/sarcasm off.

At least Mel is 100x better than Clayton.

Both companies need some help. So stop cheerleading about either one by itself.

Mel , Did not actually receive $32 Million !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Mel Signed a 5 year agreement with Sirius back in 2004 he received as part of
his compensation package 30 Million shares of Sirius stock @ a rate of 6 Million
shares per year. The 6 million shares he received in 2007 was valued at the share
price back in 2004 which was around $4.00 per share. The statement in the
10K is for accounting purposes only and shows he received $24 Million in options , the
reality is those 6 million shares today are worth about $15.9M.

""At Sirius, Karmazin will make $1.25 million a year. His compensation package also includes 30 million shares, representing 2% of the outstanding stock, in options that vest over five years.""

The caption should read something like this:

Mel: "Howard, buddy 'ol pal, how about helping me out here by staying on another term....but for only $50m a year instead, whaddya say bud?

Stern: "I don't know bud. Clayton bent over backwards, kissed my @ss, sucked my junk, and gave me everything I wanted. But you want to stay my friend by resigning me for $50 million? Where's Clayton again?"

"32 mil? Chump change for Chevron CEO's...." XM and Sirius combined are not even close to being a Chevron.. that's a dumb comparison.

Actually, thats not quite true. D.J. O'Reilly from Chevron had $31.5 million in total compensation for 2007. He had compensation of $31.6 million in 2006. Karmazin has made more than him over the last 2 years.

Besides, its not chump change for a company that lost $1.7 billion over the last two years. Chevron made $36 billion over the last two years.

Theres a bit of difference there.

And he deserves every penny of it too.
He and Howard beat XM by themselves....well fatass clayton helped a little.

They just announced an extension to the merger agreement for rolling two week periods.

WL Said:
>>>Mel , Did not actually receive $32 Million !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doesn't matter what he recieved or didn't receive -- or when. All that matters is what it cost the shareholders -- and Sirius expensed $32 million for Karmazin in 2007. So that is what it cost the shareholders for his employment in 2007.

Shares, cash or options -- it doesn't matter. It still cost the company $32 million on their Income Statement... that is what the Street will look at. Not whether or not Karmazin actually received that as cash or not. It had a direct impact on the financials of the company.

-

Wow 32 million sounds like a lot for a company that is not making a profit yet. Geez us shareholders get screw always.

My caption:........

"Her Tits were THIS BIG"...... wow!!!!!

My caption...

"Bam Margera's cock was this big...."

Caption could read ... OK, Mel, this is a stick up. Hand over the money !!!

It’s amazing how much money these “radio guy” CEOs (Karmazin, Liggins, Suleman) make when the businesses and stocks they are responsible for are tanking!

"Howard, don't worry about the value of your Sirius stock. I know what we promised the DOJ and FCC, but we're increasing the subscription prices by THIS much after the merger. HA HA!"

To Chris - That's stupid caption!

First they'll dump a bunch of channels, fire a ton of people, and then go cryin' to the FCC and DOJ sayin' the merged company still can't be profitable (and pay Mel's and Howard's salaries) unless they raise the rates.

"And he deserves every penny of it too.
He and Howard beat XM by themselves....well fatass clayton helped a little."
--written by Plowboy.

Is that a joke? He and Howard beat nobody. Last time I checked Sirius financials are slightly WORSE than XM's, and when they merge, XM shareholders (as well as the board) get slightly more of the merged company.

Yea, that sounds like a beating to me.

God bless you satellite shareholders of either company, your life depends on the merger.

Coward,

Sirius has beaten XM in sub growth for now 9 quarters in a row. In Q3 of 08 Sirius will overtake XM in total subs. This isn't by a slim number mind you.... Sirius outsubscribed XM almost 2:1 in 2007!

Your comparo of the financials fails to consider that sirius started up 15 months after XM. To that end, Sirius is kicking XM's ass on the same time line.

Nice try.... your Fired!

Sirius has beaten XM in sub growth for now 9 quarters in a row. In Q3 of 08 Sirius will overtake XM in total subs. This isn't by a slim number mind you.... Sirius outsubscribed XM almost 2:1 in 2007!
===================================================================
How many of these subscribers are in Chrysler car and how many of them will churn out as they do not opt to renew...... yes at the current rate Q3 08 is the time where overtaking will happen if the current sub rate continues, Unfourtunatly its not a Retail or consumer driven increase. This will get interesting Especially when you do the mth and realize that Chrysler and sirius's method adds 1 illion subscribers to the total count as opposed to XM and GM/Hyundai/Honda'a methods.

YOU CAN NOT COMPARE the ramp rates.... you can compare trends.. retail going down... OEM installs going up... churn going up for sirius .. churn steady for XM

XM's steady churn will continue as Hyundai/XM deal will have the opposite effect on the sub numbers. this may be offset by increasing GM penitration.

Hate to break the news to you Plowboy, but Sirius only started 6 months after XM, not 15.

Also, subscriber growth alone doesn't mean much. XM has beaten Sirius where it counts: cost control, advertising revenue and OEM, and will continue to do so. Neither company is kicking butt in ARPU right now.

Also, with GM, Chrysler and Ford cutting production (and increased losses), XM will lead OEM's where it counts: Honda, Toyota and Hyundai (vs Volkswagen, BMW and Mitsubishi).

If OEM penetration stays where it is (still around 50%, even after 4 years...that's excellent), XM will come out OK. SIrius should as well, it will just take longer.

Don't be fooled by subscriber adds alone. They don't tell the whole story.