* CEO Mel Karmazin to step down on Feb. 1, 2013
* Sirius board to consider both internal and external
candidates for CEO job
* Sirius shares down 2 pct, after market
(Adds details, share movement)
Oct 23 (Reuters) – Sirius XM Radio Inc said Chief
Executive Mel Karmazin will step down on Feb. 1, 2013, at a
time when media mogul John Malone-controlled Liberty Media Corp
is trying to wrest full control of the satellite radio
broadcaster.
Shares of the company were down 2 percent at $2.81 in
trading after the bell on Tuesday. The stock closed at $2.87 on
the Nasdaq.
Liberty is Sirius’s largest shareholder with a stake of just
under 50 percent and had filed a petition with the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission to replace the company’s board.
Karmazin, who famously clashed with Sumner Redstone while at
Viacom Inc, is known for his disdain of working for a
controlling shareholder, and has indicated that Liberty likely
wouldn’t need him to stick around if it took control.
Under Karmazin, Sirius has grown its subscriber count to
23.4 million as of the end of the third quarter, and maintains
an estimated 70 percent market share of new cars sold in the
United States.
“We will keep our foot on the gas and continue driving ahead
to finish 2012 and lay the groundwork for 2013 and beyond,”
Karmazin wrote in an email to employees.
“I’m looking forward to seeing – and listening to – all that
is ahead for SiriusXM in the years to come.”
Sirius said its board has formed a search committee to
consider both internal and external candidates for its next CEO.
Liberty acquired an initial stake of about 40 percent in
Sirius in 2009 as part of a deal in which it loaned the
satellite radio provider $530 million to help stave off
bankruptcy.
In August, Liberty said it plans to spin off its premium
pay-TV network Starz LLC into a separate public company in a
deal seen as taking a step closer to taking control of Sirius
XM.
Liberty Media said it was considering a tax-free spinoff of
its 46 percent stake in the satellite radio provider.
The discussion around an imminent Liberty-Sirius deal
boosted Sirius shares as they touched a year-high of $2.97 in
mid October.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore and Liana B.
Baker in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Akshay
Lodaya)
