Sirius news: Karmazin is new CEO
Did Sirius Satellite Radio get even more than the "King of all Media" when it signed its half-billion-buck contract with Howard Stern? In a move that caught Wall Street and radio by surprise, Sirius announced late yesterday that it had also signed former Viacom President and COO Mel Karmazin as its CEO. Karmazin had long been Stern's promoter and protector at Infinity and Viacom and his departure early this year set the stage for Stern to make his exit.
"This is a perfect opportunity for me because I want to lead a growth company that can reshape the landscape of the radio business. I took Infinity Broadcasting and Westwood One to leadership positions in the industry and am confident that Sirius will become a market leader in short order. I will inherit a first-class management group led by co-presidents Scott Greenstein and James Meyer. I look forward to working closely with Joe Clayton and the strong team that he has assembled," Karmazin said in a statement.
As Karmazin takes over running the company, outgoing CEO Joe Clayton will remain with the company as Chairman of the Board of Directors. "The hiring of Mel Karmazin is the final piece in the turnaround of SIRIUS that began when I joined the company three years ago. My contract was ending on December 31, and I advised the Board of Directors that I was willing to stay on for a transitional period. When Mel left Viacom, we all felt we had a unique opportunity," he said.
RBR observation:
This should speed up Howard's early termination of his Infinity contract and debut on Sirius. What remains to be seen is whether the team of Mel and Howard can work their magic again in satellite as they did in terrestrial radio. Joe Clayton took a company whose product launch was behind schedule and whose finances were in a mess and got it back on track. But he was a telecom guy. Now Mel is taking over to focus on what he knows - - how to build audiences and revenues. But he faces quite a challenge. Not only is Sirius still playing catch-up to XM, but the jury is still out on whether the satellite radio business will ever produce a dime of profit at either company. By the way Mel, feel free to call our Executive Editor, Jack Messmer, if you ever want to listen to his theory of why the churn rate for both satellite radio companies will have to be at least twice what's built into their business plans.
Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
