On August 17, Liberty Media
Corporation (Liberty) filed a petition with the
Federal Communications Commission to
assume de jure control of Sirius XM Radio
Inc. (Sirius XM). Liberty plans to accomplish the
takeover through the purchase of additional shares of common stock
and the conversion of its preferred stock. Prior to its filing,
Liberty acquired 94.3m shares of Sirius XM between August 10 and
16, to raise its stake in the satellite radio company from 46.2% to
48.1%.Later, in an August 28 filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, Liberty announced that it
acquired An additional 40.5m shares in Sirius XM. While Liberty has
a history of forming companies to hold its investments and then
spinning those companies off to investors, analysts posit that
Liberty's share purchases indicate that it will not dispose of
its interest in Sirius XM in the short term. In an unrelated
development, on August 8, Sirius XM sold $400m of 5.25% senior
notes due 2022 in a
