Sirius XM to Adopt 'Poison Pill' Stockholder Rights Plan

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 30, 2009 - 9:18am.

New York - Sirius XM Radio (NASD: SIRI) said on Thursday that its board has approved a "poison pill" plan that would complicate any potential hostile takeover bids for the company.

Under the plan, if any person or group acquires 4.9% or more of the company's shares without the board's approval, "a significant dilution in the voting and economic ownership of such person or group would occur."

The company's major shareholder is Liberty Media (NASD: LINTA), which controls 40% of Sirius stock; the current plan would not apply to Liberty.

"The rights plan is intended to enhance stockholder value; it has not been implemented for defensive or anti takeover purposes," said Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin.

Reuters noted that the plan comes not long after an attempt by satellite TV firm EchoStar (NASD: SATS) to take control of Sirius by acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars of its debt.

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http://snipurl.com/h3uo4 (Reuters)