Karmazin Gives Up 30 Million Share Options (SIRI)

SIRIUS XM RADIO INC. (NASDAQ: SIRI) submitted an SEC Filing today noting a significant forfeiture on the surface.  CEO Mel Karmazin voluntarily forfeited an aggregate of 30,000,000 non-qualified options to purchase shares of SIRIUS XM common stock.

These options had an exercise price of $4.72 per share, of which some 24,000,000 were vested and 6,000,000 were unvested.

Upon forfeiture of these stock options, the shares underlying this award became available for grants under the Amended and Restated Sirius Satellite Radio 2003 Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan.

The company noted in the filing, “Mr. Karmazin’s choice to forfeit these options will allow us to more efficiently use the shares authorized under the Plan to meet the Plan’s purpose to attract, motivate and retain key employees.”

The filing also stated that Mr. Karmazin did not receive any consideration in exchange for the forfeiture of these stock options.  FULL FILING…

It has done nothing on the surface today.  SIRIUS XM stock is down 5% at $0.37+ on roughly 50 million shares of common stock.

JON C. OGG