ANOTHER week of vacation.
It's just laughable at this point. 3 Days a week of live shows and I don't think he ever goes 4 weeks anymore without a week off.
Last time his contract was up...
Stern : OK, if I'm going to come back, I want another 5 years at the same $500 million (or whatever)
Sirius : We can't afford that contract again. We gave you that insane amount of money because we needed the influx of subscribers to get the jump on XM or we were going to fail. You were the only one who could save us. Now, we're in 24 million homes/cars. We need a business model that's sustainable and profitable. We can't give you 70% of the entire company's operating budget any more.
Stern : If I walk, half your subscribers will cancel.
Sirius : Maybe so, but we still can't pay you that much. We can give you $60 million annually, you're worth that much to us, but we can't do another $100 million.
Stern : That's a pay cut. I can't have the papers reporting that I took a pay cut, it will give my critics fuel and make me look like a schmuck. I'll take $60 million, but I'm only doing 3 shows a week in perpetuity, and I'm taking off 15 weeks a year in vacation and to do AGT to make up for the lost revenue. That way, when you break it down, I'm making more money per show, so it's technically a raise. But I'll still be on here enough that subscribers won't cancel.
Sirius : Fine.
Or something along those lines, I don't know whose idea it was, but I'd be willing to wager this isn't far from the truth. Of course, Howard still makes a fortune, gets to save face and not be "ridiculed" for taking a pay cut, Sirius maintains its subscriber base. Who pays in the end? The listener...or the end customer. However, anyone who knows anything about business knows the end customer is
always the one who takes it in the proverbial poopchute. Until they vote with their wallets en masse and stop buying, then the company goes defunct. Nothing new here.