Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Head's Up: Cramer Comments On Merger

No Real Wins in Satellite Radio
By Jim Cramer, thestreet.com, Mar 21

What happens if the government doesn't let Sirius merge with XM Satellite? I believe the two will continue to battle it out until one guy's belly-up. Whoever is left standing will then be able to raise rates and cut what it pays for talent. It will be a huge win for the one left standing, even if by then the stock is appreciably lower from the bleed-out. And it will be a huge loser for the consumer. As Mel Karmazin pushes on his tour to get this deal done, I keep wondering whether he should be arguing this case. It's a devastating case to make when it comes to current shareholders of both companies. It can hurt XM more than Sirius, drive it lower, because in a lot of ways XM is doing worse than Sirius. But ultimately it's a heck of a better case than the promises that he...read more: here