Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 16, 2008 at 19:25:27:
In Reply to: Karmazin vows to be #1 posted by chicagomedia.org on October 14, 2008 at 13:49:35:
Newly merged Sirius XM wants to dilute the value of its public shares by taking the 4.5 billion now held by the company and its shareholders and turn them into 8 billion shares. The proposal was contained in a 60-page, after-trading-hours filing to the SEC on Thursday (Oct. 16), which also announced the company's annual shareholders meeting will be held Dec. 18 in New York City.
The proposal seeks to win shareholder approval to "effect a reverse stock split of our common stock by a ratio of not less than one-for-10 and not more than one-for-50 at any time prior to Dec. 31, 2009, with the exact ratio to be set at a whole number within this range to be determined by our board of directors at its discretion, and reduce the number of authorized shares of our common stock as set forth in the proxy statement."
Shareholders will also be asked to elect a dozen directors to the new board, which has grown by three since Sirius' July 28 merger with D.C.-based XM Satellite Radio. The 12 directors offered to shareholders are Joan Amble, Leon Black, Lawrence Gilberti, Eddy Hartenstein, James Holden, Chester Huber Jr., Mel Karmazin, John Mendel, James Mooney, Gary Parsons, Jack Shaw and Jeffrey D. Zient.
Karmazin is currently Sirius XM CEO, and Parsons, who was XM's chairman of the board, carried the same title to the merged satellite operation.
Shares of SIRI closed down more than 7% on Thursday, off 3 cents at 39 cents a share. Sirius shares hit a 52-week low of 36 cents on Oct. 10 but were at a 52-week high of $3.94 last Dec. 3.
(Radio & Records)