SiriusXM posted a net loss of $ 677 million for the last quarter, compared to a profit of $ 243 million last year from a one-time, non-cash charge of $ 976 million at Pandora. The expected hit was based on Pandora’s license cost structure.
Quarterly revenue rose 6% to $ 2.19 billion, beating Wall Street expectations. Shares rose 1.4% in early trading.
New CEO Jennifer Witz, who replaced longtime CEO Jim Meyer earlier this month, said SiriusXM, Pandora, Stitcher and SoundCloud now reach audiences of more than 150 million. The fourth quarter was pivotal as the company negotiated a contract extension with star host Howard Stern and also completed the purchase of Stitcher and raised a flag in podcasting.
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The company, controlled by John Malones Liberty Media, added 279,000 satellite radio subscribers in the last quarter. At Pandora, 63,000 submarines were lost – fewer than last year.
For the full year, SiriusXM added 909,000 Net self-payers net by the end of 2020 with almost 30.9 million. Monthly self-churn for the full year was 1.7%, an improvement of 7 basis points from 2019 and the fourth year in a row that self-churn improved.
The total number of SiriusXM subscribers at the end of 2020 was 34.7 million, a decrease of around 1% from 34.9 million at the end of 2019. Paid advertising subscribers declined due to lower auto sales
At Pandora, monthly active users (MAUs) were 58.9 million through 2020, compared to 63.5 million at the end of 2019. The total number of ad-supported listening hours in 2020 was 12.50 billion, compared to 13.4 billion. The net self-payment additions were 133,000.
SiriusXM allocated $ 1.57 billion in share buybacks and $ 237 million in dividends – which increased 10% in November. In the fourth quarter, the company accelerated the pace of its common stock buyback to $ 680 million. CEO Sean Sullivan, who joined SiriusXM from AMC Networks last fall, said the company has “tremendous liquidity to continue investing in the business and returning capital to shareholders.”
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