Can 'Call Her Daddy' Save SiriusXM?

Spotify is attempting to be all things audio. Based on its growing number of users, it's succeeding, according to Ed Ponsi at The Street.

Globally, Spotify boasts 626 million users, including 246 million premium subscribers, making it the world’s largest streaming music service.

As of the third quarter of last year, Spotify’s global market share was just under one-third of all streaming music listeners, according to Statista.com. Its closest competitor, China-based Tencent Music, controls 14.4% of the market -- less than half of Spotify’s market share. 

Spotify continues to steadily grow its premium subscriptions. For the first time, premium subs should exceed a quarter billion by the time Spotify reports earnings after the close on Nov. 12.

That growth is a testament to Spotify’s pricing power. The Stockholm, Sweden-based streaming service has raised prices twice within the past 12 months. 

Spotify hA lost one of its most popular podcasts, Call Her Daddy. The sex and dating podcast moves to SiriusXM after signing a three-year deal reportedly worth $125 million. 

To Ponsi, this seems like a move of desperation for SiriusXM. On July 9.  He's warned investors to avoid SiriusXM stock. In the three months since then, SiriusXM has fallen by 29%.

SiriusXM, which has lost over 55% year to date, performed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split on September 9. This raised the stock’s price from the low single digits.

Can Call Her Daddy save SiriusXM? For this deal to pay off, SiriusXM needs to keep the spotlight trained on its star, Alex Cooper, write Ponsi.

Satellite radio’s stars, like Howard Stern, have a tendency to disappear once they are behind the SiriusXM paywall. Instead of locking her away, the goal for SiriusXM should be to maintain and increase Cooper’s relevance and popularity. 

Meanwhile..

• 
  Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway went on a buying spree in shares of broadcasting and radio company SiriusXM last week.
• According to regulatory filing on Friday, the sprawling conglomerate in a three-day run picked up shares worth $86.73M, and boosted its total stake in the company to 108.72M shares.
• Berkshire purchased 869,800 shares in SiriusXM on Wednesday; 917,846 and 517,154 shares in two separate transactions on Thursday; and 1,259,259 shares on Friday.
• The Omaha, Neb.-based conglomerate disclosed a stake in SiriusXM (SIRI) back in November 2023. SiriusXM in September became an independent public company with a simplified capital structure following the closing of its transaction with Liberty Media.
• The broadcasting and radio firm is expected to report its first results since then on October 31.
• Berkshire has notably been on an unloading spree in Bank of America (BAC), having started to trim its position in the number two U.S. lender in mid-July and recently bringing it down to below 10%.