In an interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Sarah McBride, Sirius XM Radio Inc. CEO Mel Karmazin said he regretted a comment he said last week, and offered up some plans for helping to grow the company.Karmazin last week joked at an investor conference, "Am
I going to lend the company the money? I hope
not. I hope we don't get to that."
But investors weren't laughing, and it's a comment that Karmazin ultimately regrets.
"I wish I didn't say it," Karmazin told WSJ. "I tend to be candid. I said something off-handed. I wish it was as simple as that."
Since the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. the company's stock has fallen approximately 40%, and now trades under a dollar.
Karmazin also told the Wall Street Journal that the company has considered a plan to reactivate the radios of lapsed subscribers and give them a small selection of programming free of charge as an enticement to bring them back to satellite radio.
Sending a limited selection of programming to inactive radios turns otherwise useless satellite radio receivers into a gateway for reactivation. "That would be a very efficient use," says Mel Karmazin, but added that while the company has considered the move, it currently doesn't have plans to implement it.
As for the refinancing of $300 million in convertible bonds due in February, Mel Karmazin last week said the company has already begun a series of meetings with banks.
"They [investors] didn't want to hear that we're having discussions," Karmazin to WSJ. "They wanted it done." And while the refinancing is a priority, Karmazin said he wants to arrange it at favorable terms. The last time debt was renegotiated the stock price dropped 16%.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. is also currently negotiating with big box retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to ensure top placement and promotion for its product over the key holiday sales season.
[Wall Street Journal]
But investors weren't laughing, and it's a comment that Karmazin ultimately regrets.
"I wish I didn't say it," Karmazin told WSJ. "I tend to be candid. I said something off-handed. I wish it was as simple as that."
Since the merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. the company's stock has fallen approximately 40%, and now trades under a dollar.
Karmazin also told the Wall Street Journal that the company has considered a plan to reactivate the radios of lapsed subscribers and give them a small selection of programming free of charge as an enticement to bring them back to satellite radio.
Sending a limited selection of programming to inactive radios turns otherwise useless satellite radio receivers into a gateway for reactivation. "That would be a very efficient use," says Mel Karmazin, but added that while the company has considered the move, it currently doesn't have plans to implement it.
As for the refinancing of $300 million in convertible bonds due in February, Mel Karmazin last week said the company has already begun a series of meetings with banks.
"They [investors] didn't want to hear that we're having discussions," Karmazin to WSJ. "They wanted it done." And while the refinancing is a priority, Karmazin said he wants to arrange it at favorable terms. The last time debt was renegotiated the stock price dropped 16%.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. is also currently negotiating with big box retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to ensure top placement and promotion for its product over the key holiday sales season.
[Wall Street Journal]
I must say, even I wouldn't have said that, and I've said some really bold things in my life.
"Am I going to lend the company the money? I hope not. I hope we don't get to that."
What is it that investors DO? Oops, but at least he admitted his mistake.
I say this as a stockholder that's seen 90% of the value of his holdings go pffffft...
Mel, don't bother with the free activation plan. I'd like to assume you'll tell those former subscribers via email, but most likely they canceled for a reason and anything emailed to them will go to their spam bin. Not to mention, if you're under some odd intention that people will suddenly go, 'hey, it works! wow! Now I'll re-up', you're wrong. Assuming they have a satellite ready radio they won't be attempting to listen to the satellite side of it. And frankly why pay when they're getting it free? Something free they didn't want to pay for to begin with.
Finish the merger, stop acquiring more expensive talent, work on getting more subscribers, and get the damn stock price back up. I know the economy as a whole is in the toilet, but jeeez.
Oh, and for a change keep your mouth shut. I don't take what you said as "no, I wouldn't invest in the company", rather I see it as more "I hope I don't have to give the company a loan".
Incidentally..doesn't NASDAQ usually delist a company under 1.00?
Spinmiesters aside, 24/7wallst suggests that Sirus won't be trading above .90 for the near term: http://www.247wallst.com/2008/09/saving-sirius-x.html
There is not a smart bank out there that is going to refinancing of $300 million in convertible bonds due in February. Nor will SiriusXM be able to afford the to pay the interest rates if they even somehow got a bank to make a stupid move in putting money into this turd. Put a fork in this mess because thanks to Mel, satradio is DONE.
They are already doing this.
I have a drawer full of "inactive" Sirius receivers that get full programming.
Sirius hasn't been deactivating radios for years.
XM, on the other hand, shut them off within 6 hours.
Is it too late for XM and Sirius to admit they were only joking about the "merge"?
It's a bad bad thing when what was being posted by fellow members only months ago urging no "merge" is happening sooner than anyone would have guessed. Those posting back then who care about the satradio industry (for entertainment purposes, not for the next get rich scheme which has failed) Greed and arrogance is no way to build a successful service entertainment industry.
Thanks Mel, thanks for single handedly f**king up the FM radio industry and now the satradio industry.
We all know how sincere radio apologies are.
Linger longer
In the trading world, negative publicity usually means one of two things.. 1. Investors pissed at a plummeting stock, 2. hype to drive down a co.. Unfortunately, number 1 is the case here.. This stock is a waste of money.. In fact, whoever bought SIRI in the first place, was either talked into it, didn't research the co very well, or just "threw a dart at a choice." Forget, S&P and other misguided analysts who've advised buying..
To be fair, I understand that the CEO, and the rest of the team want this project to be successful.. But you investors.. come on. !! this co
1. is trading times over their value,
2. offers NO dividend..
3. THEY HAVE ISSUED MORE THAN A BILLION SHARES !!
i repeat
THEY HAVE ISSUED MORE THAN A BILLION SHARES..
This is enough a4 paper to give every American 4 sheets each...
haven't you ever read "ADMIRING THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS" ? Read the chapter on investments, and you will NEVEER buy a stock again., at least not as many as you've been lumbered with..
One more thing about siri... Do the maths.. even if siri had their subscriptions to projected levels, your shares would still be greatly overvalued... in other words... don't get conned next time..
for the investors.. I'm sorry that you even invested in this co...
Has it been Mel's plan to destroy satellite radio from the beginning???? He was a terrestrial radio man.
First, he hires Howard for an ungodly amount of money. Completely ridiculous. Then this merger? Now he can take down the entire ship.
With such haphazard comments coming from Mel, I question his agenda. I've trusted him from the start, but when everything he does moves the stock lower, I qustion.
Are you SIRI(ous)?!?
In the trading world, negative publicity in the form of blogs is usually indicative of one of two things..
1. Investors are well and truly “pissed off” a plummeting stock,
2. Hype, to drive down a stock price..
Unfortunately, number 1 is the case here.. This stock is a waste of money.. In fact, whoever bought SIRI in the first place, was either talked into it, didn't research the co very well, or perhaps "threw a dart at choices pinned to the wall." And I can remember a few months back such as S&P and other misguided analysts who've advised buying.. Another reason NOT to listen to their rhetoric (crap) and to investigate a company yourself
To be fair, I understand that the CEO, and the rest of the team want this project to be successful.. But you saw this coming.. And you knew that the investors of your worthless paper would be funding your new Merc or BMW… How can you sleep at night? You’ve caused many people to lose their savings when they trusted in you.. I blame the co, wall street, the big boys, etc., who've contributed to "overpricing" this jalopy.
But you investors.. come on. !! I'm sorry, but you were stupid enough to buy into this company that
1. is trading many times over its; value in the first place… No fancy equations are necessary..
2. offers NO dividend..
3. THEY HAVE ISSUED MORE THAN A BILLION SHARES !!
I repeat
THEY HAVE ISSUED MORE THAN A BILLION SHARES..
This is enough a4 paper to give every American 4 sheets each...
have you ever read "ADMIRING THE BEAUTY OF NOTHINGNESS" ? Read the chapter on investments, and you will NEVER buy a stock like them again., at least not as many as you've been lumbered with over the past..
One more thing about siri... Do the maths.. even if siri had their subscriptions to projected levels, your shares would still be greatly overvalued... in other words... don't get conned next time..
for the investors.. I'm truly sorry that you’ve ever invested in this company.. I know that you want some consolation.. 1 in the form of the price to rise to regain your loss (which won't happen), and 2. "the misery loves company theory," of knowing that there are thousands upon thousands of investors of this company in the same boat as yourself.. The funny part is they’re all too embarrassed to admit they bought this paper… It’s under a dollar now, and it’s reminiscent of Freddy Mac in disguise.. Or like an Airline stock.. They always deliver a hard landing in the end…
Anonymous wrote: "There is not a smart bank out there that is going to refinancing of $300 million in convertible bonds due in February."
Lehman Brothers, Freddie Mac, WaMu, IndyMac, Northern Rock, Bear Stearns, ANB Financial, First Integrity Bank, Roskilde Bank, First Heritage Bank, First National Bank of Nevada, IKB, Silver State, Fannie Mae.
Sorry shall I go on?
I have an idea lets give mortgages to couples based on dual income and than they decide to have a family or one of them gets laid off.
You maybe right a bank might not finance something like SatRadio because giving people loans that do not understand that Mortgages and Car Payments are OK but credit card debt is not.
Happy to say will no longer be financially supporting Mel and this "merge" mess. The notice of automatic renewal in the mail coupled with the bad karma of supporting a monopoly built on greed, arrogance, and decete, supporting a service corporation which completely ignores FCC rules and regulations is just too much.
People realizing poor investments choices is one thing, however Mel pushed the "merge" making smart consumers realize subscribing to satellite radio is also a poor choice which needs to be corrected.
0.0 stock value
Way to go Mel.
I have a love/hate relationship with Mel, and this reaffirms my hate side. Open mouth, insert foot.
If you don't believe in your own company Mel, how are your investors going to?
Amazing service and content, but horrifying investment. Maybe long term they'll weed it out and be o.k., but short term? A total disaster.
Imagine the sentiment on the street when Mel pulls off one of the biggest REFI's of the century.
Sirius will survive.
Name the bank that is going to be stupid enough to lend to allow Mel to pull off a REFI, then that one can be added to the list of failed banks. SiriusXM is DONE.
Blue Horseshoe LOVES Sirius XM.
Sirius XM?
Sirius XM.......
18.5 million X 12.95 X 12 mo = $2,874,900,000
Where is all that money going?!?
I regret losing 220K over this horseshit. Whaaa Whaa Mel.
Hi Mr. Karmazin,
I am a big fan of Imus and he thinks you are at the pinnacle of successful businessmen as do I. I have full confidence in you, your board and the success of Serius-XM.
Sir, after you arrived at Serius, the same day I
purchasted my first S/XM block of stock. I am calling my Broker in the morning and tell him to acquire another 10,000 shares for me. I have full confidence that you will make SIRI a profitable
investment. The very best of good luck to you and SIRI.
Kind regards, B.C. Sweeney
slainte32@webtv.net
PLEASE PLEASE! Reactivate the lAPSED RADIOS ASAP! You have nothing to lose and and a whole lot to gain. Some of these radios are consumers that bought a used car and NEVER gave it a chance. You have the great content hidden in a box. Wet their whistles by giving them a month of "The Best of Both". You are siriusly crazy if you don't bang the drums & blow the horns when you come out with this in the 1st week of October. The cost to do this is almost nothing compared to what it costs to put in a radio in a new car or for the consumer to go to Best Buy and put in an aftermarket radio. MEL to EARTH CAN YOU HEAR ME? Or are sitting on a satellite? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE OLD MEL,CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY FROM WITHIN!!!
I thought XM already did free programming weekends every once in a while??
How does the stock price affect what people think about the service? Most people don't care--not every subscriber invests in the service. Time will tell if the service falls in quality or not.
And you might want to hide your identity better, mister "merge"--there was only one person who ever put the term merge in quotes, and I think you've sort of proven an agenda to decry SatRad and pump up HDRadio for whatever purposes you have.
Maybe if the sirius company would get off their asses and do something to keep the existing subscribers the numbers would look better. I have been a sirius subscriber for years and a former stock holder and bought a car with XM and have been trying to add the new radio to my existing account to no avail. I refuse to pay the full price for an additional radio just because they can not get their act together. If they merged they merged. Stop adding new talent and focus on keeping existing accounts. I am getting close to canceling the four receivers I have. No one I call can even give me a time frame for when the full merger will take place, it does not seem like a well run company to me.
XM did, If Sirius did it was a secrect,but you need to use this "Best of Both" as a promo to light up all XM & Sirius Radio's. How many million units are sitting idle,Millions? This is a great opportunity to come out of the merger process w/ a positive bang. Let everyone know what a great product the merger created. It also reaches people that are not so familiar w/ Sat. Radio. It shows Sirius Xm believes in their product & content. Just the free press alone would be great. Remember when Howard Stern signed on and gave radios away in downtown Manhattan? Do something on that order. Get your high paid talent out there to promote this event.
B.C. Sweeney / slainte32@webtv.net
Wow the mental illness never ends here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
"Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger (or at least risk) in which they have been placed. The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, Sweden, in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28 in 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their victimizers, and even defended their captors after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term Stockholm Syndrome was coined by the criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast."
"Reactivate the lAPSED RADIOS ASAP!" That is the easy part HOWEVER trying to get / fool owners of those lapsed radio's into paying for satradio service from a failing corporation will be as difficult SiriusXM getting / fooling a bank into refinancing a failing corporation with massive debt that will never be able to pay back the money.
All thanks to Mel and his "merge".
JRT thats the difference someone like you who feels the need to "hide" while there are others who could care less about hiding and prefer to post reality and truth, and have been doing so right along while people like you take off topic, cheap shots. The stock price might not influence those who think they can hide from the truth, like yourself. However in the case of SiriusXM their stock prices have been dropping since Mel came on board and everyday continue to show new lows. That truth might be able to be hidden under a rug, however when it comes to SiriusXM the truth is neither have made a dime and neither have been able to payback any of the massive and growing debt. The "merge" has come and gone with nothing but lip service to show for it. Consumers have not benefited, SiriusXM have not benefited, and investors have not benefited.
Those who prefer reality and truth have no reason to "hide" and continue to proudly point out that the "merge" was not a merge, and the action was not a positive step for Sirius, XM, or it's subscribers.
There are already a few free channels on XM. Aside from the preview channel on XM 1, I get the Emergency Alert and POTUS 08 channels for free on the boombox I have that hasn't been activated in several years.
I've posted the truth. I am critical of the merger but you are making bold sweeping statements saying the SatRad fans are going to abandon the series in droves without backing things up. And I don't understand what you mean by "hiding", either. I'm not the one posting anonymously (yes, I don't have an open ID yet either, so I understand from that standpoint), nor did I ever call people "blind, ignorant fanboys" either. The only reason I've "attacked" you is that you can't seem to get your opinion across without insulting others.
So I'm not defending the merger, but when you kept posting that HD slogan, it made a lot of people think you have an agenda or are pro-NAB, etc.
Most people don't give a crap if they merge or not, they care about service and programming. It remains to be seen what XM and Sirius will do with their line-ups. I am cautiously optimistic. As long as service isn't affected the company could go bankrupt and most subscribers will only care if they liquidated.
JRT there were no insults, there were no off topic posts, there were no mentions of HD Radio till you posted in this thread. There was also no mention of " SatRad fans are going to abandon the series in droves" until you posted it. If you need a suggestion on how to post (since you feel others need your help) you might want to continue to post your opinion on topic and not about others or their opinions.
That's true, and I apologize.
(However, you should hide the "merge" in quotes because people might then figure out who you are. I think most people were annoyed because of how you posted in the past. Since you've taken steps to not annoy others, I have no problem with your posts).
I still however stand by the statement that making a blanket statement that "smart consumers" decided to drop SatRad in droves. I don't believe that is the case at all--that's a conclusion that is hard to come by. The statement "satrad is a poor choice which needs to be corrected" seems off to me.
Mel has always been known to shoot from the lip, and at least this time he realized his mistake.
It doesn't look good for those who invested (esp. those who dove in when Sirius was $60 a share, or whatever it was); a billion shares? I didn't realize it was that many.
The company appears to have kept printing shares the same way banana republics keep printing paper money; if they stopped, that'd be the end of their existance.
I think a stock buyback is going to have to take place; that's not uncommon, but will SIRI ever have the money to actually do that?
will SIRI ever have the money to actually do that? NO SiriusXM will not have the money for that, and no bank is going to refinance Mel's "merge" mess.