NEW YORK -- Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. reported Tuesday that its first quarter loss more than doubled, due largely to expenses of $225 million in stock-related compensation to its star shock jock Howard Stern.
Sirius reported a net loss of $458.5 million, or 33 cents a share, for the January-March period compared with a loss of $193.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago.
By far the largest factor affecting the results was costs for stock-based compensation, which all companies had to begin recording this year under new accounting rules. Sirius reported stock compensation expenses of $284.6 million, of which about $225 million went to Stern and his affiliates, a company spokesman said.
The company said stock compensation costs accounted for 20 cents per share of the loss in the most recent quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had been expecting a wider loss of 36 cents per share.
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Revenues nearly tripled in the quarter to $126.7 million compared with $43.2 million in the same period a year ago as the company continued to build up its subscriber base.
Sirius said it had 4.1 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, having added about 761,000 customers in the most recent period.
Both Sirius and its larger rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. are spending heavily to sign up subscribers and programming talent to their services, which require special radio receivers and cost about $13 per month.
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