Sirius Stock Shock Over Howard Stern Deal
February 19, 2005

An insider trading probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission has been started to see whether or not someone knew Howard Stern's deal with Sirius Satellite Radio was coming. The New York Post confirmed the probe with frequent Stern guest and New York gossip journalist Chaunce Hayden, who has been served with a subpoena regarding "trading in securities of Sirius Satellite Radio." Hayden is scheduled to appear before the SEC on Wednesday (2/23) to discuss what he heard in Stern's studios at WXRK (K-Rock)/New York in the days prior to the deal being announced.

Hayden told Reuters that an SEC attorney contacted him and "wanted to know why I was up in the studio the day Howard made the announcement and if I heard anything that day, if there was anything spoken about, and he said he had a bunch of other questions as well."

The Post reports that the SEC wants to "determine if someone who knew the deal was coming started buying up stock in anticipation of shares skyrocketing when the news got out." Last October, Sirius stock jumped almost 40 percent in the two weeks prior to the Stern-Sirius announcement and another 15 percent after the deal was made public.

"We have no reason to believe this matter involves Sirius or any actions of its officers, directors or employees, and neither Sirius nor any of its officers, directors or employees have received a subpoena in this matter," a Sirius spokesman told the Post.

When Stern made the announcement, on air reactions by the other members of his program, including long time producer Gary Dell'Abate and sidekick Robin Quivers, were of shock and surprise. For his part, in the days after the deal was announced, Stern said many times during his syndicated morning program that he had kept the deal quiet from his co-workers, friends, family and even his girlfriend, Beth Ostrosky, to avoid any problems with the SEC.

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