
Howard Stern, his agent Don Buchwald and their production company One Twelve presented their case against Sirius XM to an appellate court on Thursday, continuing their quest to recoup $330 million they believe they are owed from the 2008 merger between Sirius and XM.
Stern’s case was heard by a panel of five New York State Court of Appeals judges on Tuesday, February 12, 2013. One Twelve, et al. have been pursuing the legal action against Sirius XM since shortly after Stern renewed his contract with the satellite radio company at the end of 2010. At issue is an estimated $330 million in stock bonuses that Stern claims he is entitled to according to a provision in his contract that promised him bonuses every time the company hit a certain target numbers of subscribers. Stern and Buchwald say the millions of XM subscribers absorbed by Sirius in the 2008 merger should count towards that total, since Sirius never would have been able to take over their competitor without Stern on their team. Sirius XM disagrees, saying that Stern received a separate $25 million bonus in the merger as promised and was entitled to nothing more.
In this latest chapter of Howard Stern’s latest saga as a disgruntled employee, judges will now decide whether to overturn Judge Barbara Kapnick’s April 2012 decision that Stern, Buchwald and One Twelve were entitled to a big fat zero…point…zero.