DirecTV Group Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV) has appointed Michael White as their new CEO. White previously worked at PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) as the Vice Chairman. Interestingly White does not have much experience in the food and beverage industry so that makes the decision quite interesting for DirecTV. There is speculation that he will act as a “baby-sitter” for DirecTV until a take-over happens. AT&T and Verizon are both potential candidates for buying out DirecTV since they both partner with the satellite TV company.
DirecTV has 18 million subscribers and the company launched in 1994. The company is currently owned by The DirecTV Group which is a division of Liberty Media.
White will be taking the CEO position on January 1 and will be replacing Chase Carey. Carey will be leaving to join News Corp. as the COO and President. Shareholders and the DirecTV management team are currently discussing whether to spin off Liberty Media’s entertainment assets into a separate company. DirecTV used to be owned by News Corporation, but Liberty Media exchanged 16.3% of their stake in News Corp. and $625 million in exchange for DirecTV and three sports networks.
Sirius XM is the satellite radio company that almost went out of business, but was spared by Liberty Media. Sirius XM plans on expanding the reach of their programming by unleashing an iPhone application in their second quarter through a potential marketing partnership with DirecTV.
The company is attempting to find new revenue streams because they are looking bad right now. The iPhone application would be available to Sirius’ 19 million subscribers and Apple’s 7 million U.S.-iPhone users. It would also be available to iPod Touch WiFi users.
“This is a large and interesting opportunity that will maintain our subscription-based economics while providing customers easier access to our content through means other than our traditional satellite-based platform,” stated Sirius’ CFO David Frear.
Liberty Media Corporation, the parent company of DirectTV, has made it easier for Sirius XM satellite radio to stay alive. Liberty Media has taken a 40% stake in the satellite radio company in exchange for $530 million. Sirius XM was forced to pay $172 million today to creditors in the form of convertible notes. Later this year, the company will owe another $750 million in loans. Therefore the deal with Liberty Media is just a temporary solution.
Liberty will be loaning Sirius XM $280 million with a 15% interest rate. Sirius will have to pay back Liberty Media the money by December 2012. Another part of the deal is a $150 million loan to XM radio for help in paying back Echostar, a satellite TV company. Echostar had expressed interest in acquiring Sirius XM at one point as well. Liberty also pledged to loan another $100 million to help pay for Sirius XM’s existing loans.
Once all of the loans are made, Liberty Media will get 12.5 million preferred stock shares in the satellite radio company. Liberty will also have 40% of the seats on Sirius XM’s board of directors.
“We are pleased to have come to this agreement with Liberty Media, particularly in light of today’s challenging credit markets,” stated Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin. “Liberty’s investment is an important validation of what Sirius XM has already achieved and a vote of confidence in what we will achieve. This agreement enables Sirius XM to continue to develop the opportunities first outlined in the merger of Sirius and XM. By strengthening our capital structure and enhancing our financial flexibility, this investment allows us to continue providing the great content and innovative programming our subscribers know and love.”
Sirius XM Radio Inc.(NASDAQ:SIRI) may be kicked out of the CEO position of the company if they decide to file for bankruptcy protection according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal was notified of this possibility by a group of creditors involved with Sirius.
“Creditors will act quickly and definitively if they perceive that management is acting in their own interest and not in the best interest of the estate,” Edward Weisfelner, a partner with Brown Rudnick, the law firm representing the creditor group, told the newspaper. “The board of directors should carefully consider the ramifications.” The company met over the weekend to determine which plan is most suitable.
Creditors would petition the court to have Sirius’ management team removed and be replaced with independent trustees. Sirius was rumored to be seeking investment from Liberty Media. Liberty Controls DirecTV. If Sirius goes bankrupt, then it would be the second largest Chapter 11 this year as they have about $5 billion in assets.
Fortune 500 American media company, InterActiveCorp operates 60 brands, employs 20,000 employees, and has its fair share of interesting headlines. All of IAC’s web sites attract 680 million visitors. IAC is also the largest buyer of online advertising. IAC’s 60 brands keeps the company’s dazzling, spectacle headquarters glowing:
[image source: IAC press release]
Yesterday, Liberty Media Holding Corp. International bought 14 million shares of IAC/InterActiveCorp from a single holder. And then IAC bought 6 million shares of its own stock from that same single holder. This brings Liberty Media’s ownership of IAC to 30%.
IAC gave their Internet property, Ask.com a major marketing overhaul. Jakob Lodwick, co-founder of Vimeo, parted ways with IAC after a disagreement with the company’s management recently. And today I read that IAC may be close to acquiring Flixster.
Flixster is a social network centered around movies. According to TechCrunch, either the deal is done or is “very close.” The deal is rumored to be potentially around $150-$200 million. One of Flixster’s primary traffic drivers is its Facebook Application. Flixster raised around $2 million from Lightspeed Ventures and other angel investors. The social networking company is based in San Francisco, Calif.
