NEW YORK - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. said Tuesday that it gave shock jock Howard Stern an $82.9 million stock bonus after the satellite radio service provider surpassed subscriber estimates for 2006 by more than 2 million.
In October 2004 Stern signed a contract with Sirius that established bonuses based on subscriber count. Sirius ended 2006 with about 6 million subscribers.
For his efforts, Stern got about 22.1 million shares and could get more in the future.
"Sirius has significantly outperformed earlier subscriber expectations, now generating over $300 million more revenue than Wall Street expected at the time Howard agreed to join us," Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said in a statement.
Sirius' agreement with Stern provides for additional stock-based performance bonuses if the company exceeds an escalating set of specified subscriber targets by increasing amounts substantially greater than 2 million.
The company said shares issued, or any likely to be issued to Stern in the future, will not increase the company's fully diluted share count, since certain other outstanding warrants will expire without exercise.
Sirius shares fell 3 cents to $3.73 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.
