SiriusXM Radio: 2018 Was A Very Good Year

SiriusXM Tuesday announced it added 1.4 million self-pay subscribers to finish 2018 with approximately 28.9 million self-pay subscribers, exceeding the company's initial 2018 guidance by approximately 40%.

Total net subscriber additions in 2018 were approximately 1.3 million, resulting in total paid subscribers of approximately 34 million at year end.

The company also announced that it expects to meet or exceed its 2018 guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.

During the fourth quarter, SiriusXM repurchased approximately $646 million of its common stock, the largest amount of capital allocated to open market repurchases in a single quarter since the program commenced in early 2013. Including dividends, SiriusXM returned approximately $1.5 billion of capital to its stockholders during 2018.

The company also issued 2019 subscriber and financial guidance, including:

• SiriusXM self-pay net additions approaching 1 million,
• Total revenue of approximately $6.1 billion,
• Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.3 billion, and
• Free cash flow of approximately $1.6 billion.

The company's guidance does not give effect to the expected acquisition of Pandora Media in the first quarter.

"I'm proud to report that 2018 was not only another year of operational excellence at SiriusXM, with record high subscribers, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA. Last year also saw SiriusXM achieve important milestones, like the introduction of 360L and significant improvements in our smartphone apps and IP distribution on connected devices. We attained a record 40% adjusted EBITDA margin in the third quarter, saw our efforts in connected vehicle services bear fruit and, of course, we were extremely pleased to reach an agreement to acquire Pandora Media," said Jim Meyer, SiriusXM's Chief Executive Officer.

"We expect to close the Pandora transaction shortly following the Pandora stockholder meeting scheduled for late this month, and we are quickly moving to implement exciting ways the two businesses can work together. We remain confident that this transformational acquisition will open exciting pathways for long-term value creation and cash flow growth for our stockholders," said Jim Meyer, SiriusXM's Chief Executive Officer.

As previously announced, SiriusXM filed a Registration Statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the transaction, which, as amended, was declared effective by the SEC on December 20, 2018 and the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in connection with the transaction expired on December 21, 2018.

Pandora's special meeting of stockholders to vote on the transaction is scheduled to be held on January 29, 2019.

SiriusXM also announced that it plans to release full-year and fourth quarter 2018 financial and operating results on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.