XM’s Net Loss Grows

XM Satellite Radio is still losing money. For the second quarter, XM’s net loss was $229 million while revenue was $228 million.
CEO Hugh Panero said the satcaster lost some retail market share to rival Sirius and has beefed up its marketing team to address that.
Its churn rate is up since the first quarter, now at 1.83%; executives said they switched the company that handles the subscriptions, and lost some customers by not reaching out to them before their initial three free months were up.
The revenue figure represents an 82 percent increase from the $125 million reported in the second quarter last year. The quarterly increase in revenue was driven by 56 percent subscriber growth year over year, as well as increases in average revenue per subscriber.
XM’s net loss in the quarter was $229 million compared to a net loss of $147 million at the same period last year. The net loss includes $105 million in de-leveraging and other non-operating charges that were not incurred during the second quarter of 2005.
The Associated Press quotes Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby as maintaining a “buy” rating on XM’s stock Thursday. “However, he characterized XM’s overall report as ‘not pretty,’ noting the weak subscriber additions and other factors,” AP reported.