Fresh off merging his Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) with rival XM, CEO Mel Karmazin paid a visit to CNBC's David Faber this morning. On his mind:
- Talking up Sirius' growth prospects -- getting installed on half of new cars, so a slowdown in Detroit won't kill us,
- Repositioning the company: The second-largest subscription business after Comcast! The second largest radio company after Clear Channel!
- Its financial health: Financing in place, positive cash flow next year,
- And shilling his stock:
Faber: The stock price is very low.
Karmazin: It sucks.
Faber: It's a very low price. Forget market cap. Are you going to do a reverse split? It's embarrassing to look at something that has a one in front of it.
Karmazin: Well, it's embarrassing, and I hope that we're not going to have to look at something with a one in front of it for a long time.
Faber: Could you consider a reverse split just to get the stock price up there? Some people can't even buy that kind of a stock.
Karmazin: You know what, we can consider anything, but there's nobody that I found that they really can't buy it. If somebody wants to own this stock and they want to have a growth, they can just buy it at this price.
Faber: All right.
Karmazin: It's mechanics. It's a split, and I just think that Wall Street's smart enough to know what the value is.
Did it help? Sirius is up three cents -- 1.9% -- to $1.61. Full interview video here -- CNBC won't let us embed it.
See Also:
Sirius XM Radio: Two Troubled Satellite Radio Companies Become One
Sirius: Costs Flat, But New Subscribers Plummet 50%
Newsflash: Howard Stern Heading For A Pay Cut ... In 2010
