More dirty details about Howard Stern's lawsuit against his employer Sirius XM have come to light, painting CEO Mel Karmazin as Stern's most vocal in-house opponent.
Stern's production company is suing Sirius XM for an estimated $75 million in unpaid performance based stock bonuses. The crux of the case rests on whether or not Howard Stern can claim any responsibility for bringing in the 10 million subscribers that came along with XM when the company merged with Sirius in 2008.
Deadline.com gained exclusive access to the affidavits filed by Howard Stern and his agent Don Buchwald Tuesday.
Buchwald's affidavit alleges that Karmazin is bitter about the deal Stern landed in 2006 and told Sirius XM President Scott Greenstein that he felt Stern was greatly overpaid.
"Scott Greenstein has told me a number of times that Karmazin is unhappy with the size of the Agreement that was negotiated and agreed to by his predecessor, and that Karmazin has said that if he had been CEO at the time, he would have given Stern much less and not given into our demands. He might have tried to do that, but in this case, as I told Scott Greenstein more than once, Sirius would not have gotten Stern."
Howard Stern has been seething over the lawsuit on air of late, recently stating that he removed his personal items from his office for fear that someone in the building might tamper with them out of spite.
Stern's personal affidavit was logical, but also deeply emotional. Stern wrote:
“Last year, Sirius celebrated having more than 20 million subscribers [by] taking out ads in the media and throwing a Paul McCartney concert to commemorate this historic event. I went to that concert, and it was simulcast on one of my channels...I do not understand how the company can brag to the world that it has more than 20 million subscribers, and then turn around and tell me that only half of them count. All of these subscribers are subscribers of Sirius. Sirius has pointed to them as a measure of the company’s success, and the whole purpose of the performance-based stock awards was to allow me to share in that success.”
Paul McCartney Apollo concert red carpet: Howard Stern meets Deepak Chopra (photos)
Before filing the lawsuit against Sirius XM, Stern frequently referred to CEO Mel Karmazin as a professional friend and ally. When Stern launched the suit in March 2010, he referred to it on air as "the most disturbing fight of my career".
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