Satellite radio services provider Sirius XM Radio
Inc(NASDAQ:SIRI) on Thursday approved a $2 billion share buyback programme and
also issued a special dividend of 5 cents a share.
Its biggest Liberty Media, which is also seeking to
get management control over Sirius, got a substantial pay-out from the
dividend.
Liberty Media, which owns 49.8 percent of the company
said that it wold also participate in the share buyback programme but in a way
that would not affect its ownership interest.
The special dividend announced by the company will be
payable on December 28 to shareholders as of December 18. The company expects
to pay about $325 million in cash dividends.
The company had $556.27 million in cash and cash
equivalents for the quarter ended September 30.
Though the company announced the buyback, it did not
reveal the timing of the buyback. Analysts have speculated that the program
would be implemented in 2013.
It may be recalled that when Sirius was strapped for
cash and was on the verge of bankruptcy, it was Liberty Media which had stepped
in with a $530 million in lieu of a 40 percent stake in it.
However Liberty Media Corp (Capital)(NASDAQ:LMCA) is
now planning to acquire control of the company and has been buying shares from
the market to take its holding to 50 percent.
Sirius XM shares rose 6 cents or 2 percent to $2.83
while Liberty Media Corp shares rose $1.69 or 1.6 percent to $108.02 in early
trading.
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