SiriusXM, Howard Stern sign five-year contract extension

NEW YORK (AP) — The satellite radio company SiriusXM has locked up its most valuable asset, Howard Stern, for five more years in a deal announced Tuesday.

Terms were not disclosed.

Stern was already making a reported $90 million a year.

He’s invaluable to the company, which had 600,000 subscribers when Stern announced in 2004 that he was joining and now has nearly 35 million.

“I had been in a toxic relationship with terrestrial radio. And no matter how well I treated the medium, no matter how successful I made them, they abused me,” Stern said in a press release. “Going to SiriusXM liberated me. I felt like Tina Turner freeing myself from Ike,” said Stern. “And despite the naysayers and the ridicule, we have persevered, and are thriving. I’ve been proven right about satellite radio over and over again. With this contract renewal, I can’t wait to see what else I’ll be right about.

The deal also gives SiriusXM exclusive rights to Stern’s audio and video library through 2032.

In the press release, SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer said the company “couldn’t be happier” to continue working with the legendary shock-jock.

“Howard’s home has been SiriusXM and it will remain that way, but we’ve expanded SiriusXM in recent years too, and we are excited about finding the right ways that select content from Howard can find audiences on additional platforms,” Meyer said. “May I add, I consider Howard a close friend and look forward to listening to him for years to come.”

Stern, who’s been working remotely due to the pandemic like millions of Americans, said Tuesday that now that he can work from home, ‘I simply don’t have an excuse to quit.’