Under the agreement, XM Chairman Gary Parsons would remain chairman of the combined company while Sirius’ Mel Karmazin would assume the role of CEO. The two companies, which would have a combined 14 million subscribers, said they had not yet determined a new name for the company or where its headquarters would be (Sirius is based in New York while XM is based in Washington, D.C.).
The new company would have a market value of about $13.0 billion, including about $1.6 billion in net debt. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of the year. However, federal regulators have stated that a merger will be difficult because there is already a provision barring both satellite radio licenses from being owned by the same company.
—Matthew Schwartz
