Thursday, February 12, 2009

H.R.1, The Bailout, Sirius XM and Howard Stern


H.R. 1, The Bailout, Sirius XM and Howard Stern

So, I have been thinking about this. Sirius XM files for bankruptcy, or as Howard would put it "...is doing a restructuring." Now, I get it. I have been in the business world for a long time and I know there are a number of reasons and outcomes that can happen from a bankruptcy. What I am entertained by is the 'spin' that is put on this by Howard Stern. First, I am a HUGE fan, I have probably called into the show 20 times and never made it on. Some may say that it would be the icing on the cake of life to be heard on his show, but I don't get to excited about it. I admire Howard for his honesty and his 'stand up for what is right' attitude but in this case I have to say he is putting a bit too much spin on this story. I should back up. I have heard on many a Stern show, Howard beating up on all those banking executives that took huge payouts for "driving the company into ground". Now Silicon Alley Insider reports that this bankruptcy or "restructuring" gives Sirius an opportunity to renegotiate their expensive contracts. The funny thing is, Howard got on the air yesterday saying that Mel Karmazin told him "...that he would honor his agreement with Howard." I find it odd that Howard, if he is a 'stand up for the little guy' kind of person wouldn't take one for the team and help out the company and renegotiate his contract as well to help the overall company be successful. It was origionally posted that Howard would get $500M for going to Sirius. I am not so sure that that wasn't a combo salary, bonus and stock deal and I am sure he probably wont get all of that as he claims on the radio but its still going to be multi-millions. How much does he need. If what he says is true, he can take pleanty of money to live on, get a stock deal that can pay him as he retires, still make the huge ego claim as King of all Media (which I happen to agree with - well except for this social networking thing which is the new media) and have a fantastic life.

See the banking CEO's that drove the companies into the ground are only partially to blame. The rules at which they operated at, led by the federal govenrment allowed them to do so. If one guy stood up to say he/she was going to be more ethical than the next, then they could have faced going out of business in the very competitive banking world and then have hurt their stock holders earlier rather than later so it is a toss up at the blame. But here it is clear. It cost millions to put satelites in space and it costs millions to have Howard on the radio - Sirius can't be as successful with one and not the other so both contracts should be reconsidered. Thoughts?

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