Howard Stern's fight with his employer Sirius XM took another ugly turn Tuesday when the satellite radio company asked a judge to summarily dismiss the suit brought by Stern and his agent Don Buchwald.
In an official court document that referred to Stern and Buchwald's case as "trite" and "just plain wrong," Sirius XM lawyers state that the King of All Media's contract contains "unambiguous" wording that shows he is only entitled to bonuses for subscribers he brought to Sirius Satellite Radio independently of the 2008 merger with XM.
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Stern's original 2006 contract with Sirius states that he and Buchwald are entitled to stock bonuses for bringing new subscribers to the satellite radio pay subscription service. Stern and Buchwald claim that Sirius would never have been able to take over XM without the King of All Media's drawing power.
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Sirius XM's latest response states:
"The unambiguous language of the agreement does not include XM subscribers in the words 'Sirius subscribers'."
and asks the judge to dismiss Stern and Buchwald's complaint without prejudice.
Although Stern's salary and bonus payouts are confidential, analysts estimate that Stern is seeking about $75 million in stock bonuses for his role in the Sirius XM merger.
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