Sirius XM Slashing Salaries

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sirius XM(SIRI) is slashing salaries in a bid to cut costs, after signing a number of expensive deals with celebrity talents such as Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart.

Radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge told the Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday that he chose not to re-sign with Sirius when his contract expired at the end of 2010 after executives told him his salary would be cut by 80%.

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"They've asked everybody to take a pay cut," Bubba told the Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. "With me, it was a take it or leave it offer. We decided to leave it."

During the past week Bubba kept his fans up-to-date with information regarding his negotiations with the satellite radio company via Twitter.

On Dec. 31 Bubba tweeted "Ok it's official I'm done... I'm my own boss now!!" followed by "As of midnight tonight my name and all content will be removed from Sirius/XM."

Sirius shock jock Howard Stern may have also been asked to accept a lower salary when he signed a new 5-year deal with Sirius XM, less than a month before his 5-year, $500 million contract with the company was set to expire last year.

Analysts predict that Stern agreed to a 20% pay cut which bumped his salary down to $80 million a year from the previous $100 million.

Bubba was reportedly raking in $1 million a year through his contract with Sirius, but the company wanted to cut his salary to $200,000 a year.

Sirius XM has not responded to requests for comment.