SiriusXM Stock Closes 2.55% Higher After Merger With Liberty Media Tracking Stock
The merger and reverse stock split simplified the audio entertainment giant's financial structure, executives said.
SiriusXM’s stock rose 2.6% on Tuesday (Sept. 10), the first full day of trading since it merged with Liberty Media’s tracking stock to create a single, streamlined public stock.
SiriusXM said last December that it would merge its stock with Liberty SiriusXM Holdings to simplify and eliminate confusion around its multiple share classes and create one entity with greater trading liquidity. In June, the company announced a 1-for-10 reverse stock split that ultimately reduced SiriusXM’s outstanding common stock by about 12% in a bid to give the single stock an additional boost.
The company said Tuesday that the simplified capital structure will support its strategy for growth. It also announced a $1.166 billion stock buyback program funded by cash on hand.
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“Today SiriusXM embarks on a new phase in our journey as an independent public company, building on our leading position in audio entertainment,” Jennifer Witz, SiriusXM CEO, said in a statement. “We’ve created a strong and profitable business, anchored by a subscription service that fosters deep and loyal connections with our listeners and a growing digital audio advertising platform which extends our reach to fans around the world, and we are excited about the future as we look to expand and strengthen both platforms.”
Last week, SiriusXM’s stock fell 17.0% to $2.73 after it and Liberty Media announced the final exchange ratio for the merger with Liberty Media redeeming each outstanding share of Liberty SiriusXM common stock for 0.8375 shares of the new SiriusXM stock. That meant SiriusXM shareholders received 0.1 shares of the new SiriusXM stock, which is trading under the same SIRI ticker as the original SiriusXM stock.
Following Tuesday’s merger, the former holders of Liberty SiriusXM stock own roughly 81% of the new shares.
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