Sirius XM Exceeds Revenue Estimates

Looking ahead, Sirius XM reiterated the five-year operational forecast it provided a week ago, which came as the company said it was in discussions with several institutions regarding a financing plan to replace its convertible notes due in 2009.

Sirius XM once again said it expects to grow its subscriber count from 19.1 million by the end of 2008 to 28.4 million by the end of 2013. The company said it should finish 2009, a critical year for the company as roughly $1 billion in debt will come due, with 20.6 million subscribers.

Sirius XM said that current economic conditions, particularly the dramatic and recent slowdown in auto sales, have negatively impacted subscriber growth for this year and next. Previously, Sirius XM said it expected to end the year with about 19.5 million subscribers and that it should end 2009 with around 21.5 million subscribers.

By comparison, Sirius finished 2007 as a stand-alone company with 8.32 million subscribers, up 38% from the end of 2006. When XM operated by itself, it saw its subscriber count jump 18% in 2007 to 9.02 million subscribers.

Shares of Sirius XM were lately down 5.6% to 25 cents a share. The stock is down 91% for the year and 88% since the merger between Sirius and XM.