Year-over-year tone shift - average net-tone change across Risk Factors and MD&A vs the prior 10-K. This filing is -0.01pp more bearish than last year's.
Why YoY instead of absolute: the LM lexicon has ~6.6× more negative words than positive (legal/risk-disclosure language is heavy on hedging), so every 10-K reads bearish on raw tone. Year-over-year change strips that bias and surfaces the actual shift in management's framing.
Tone shift by section
The two components the gauge averages: how Risk Factors and MD&A each shifted in net tone versus last year's 10-K. The headline above is their average, so a green needle over a soft section just means the other section carried it.
Risk Factors
-0.04pp
Flat
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
MD&A
+0.02pp
Flat
Net-tone change vs last year's 10-K.
Per-snippet highlights
Sentence-level sentiment highlighting with category and subcategory filters is coming once the snippet-scoring pipeline lands. For now, dig into the actual section text on the Sections tab.
Language change vs prior 10-K
Risk Factors (Item 1A) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
litigation+2
against+1
negatively+1
declines+1
scrutiny+1
Positive rising
progress+1
Risk Factors (Item 1A)
13,007 words
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the information under the caption Item 1. Business “Competition,” the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating us and our business.
Risks Relating to our Business and Operations
We face substantial competition, and that competition has increased over time.
We compete for the time and attention of our listeners with other content providers on the basis of a number of factors, including quality of experience, relevance, acceptance and perception of content quality, ease of use, price, accessibility, brand awareness, reputation and, in the case of our ad-supported Pandora service, perception of ad load, features and functionality. As consumer tastes and preferences change on the internet and with mobile and other connected products, including cars, in-home, and wearable devices, we will need to enhance and improve our existing products and services, introduce new services and features, and attempt to maintain our competitive position with additional technological advances and adaptable platforms.
If we fail to keep pace with technological advances or fail to offer compelling product offerings and state-of-the-art delivery platforms to meet consumer demands, our ability to maintain the reach of our services and attract and retain users and subscribers across our services will be affected. Our ability to attract and retain subscribers and listeners also depends on our in creating and providing or unique programming. A summary of certain services that compete with us is contained in the section entitled “Item 1. Business - Competition” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Language change vs prior 10-K
MD&A (Item 7) - words with the biggest YoY frequency increase
Negative rising
delayed+4
declines+1
ceased+1
terminations+1
dispose+1
Positive rising
successfully+2
enabling+1
improvement+1
MD&A (Item 7)
10,803 words
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
All amounts referenced in this Item 7 are in millions, except subscriber amounts are in thousands and per subscriber and per installation amounts are in ones, unless otherwise stated.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Executive Summary
Liberty Media Transactions
Sirius XM Holdings Inc., the reporting company under this Annual Report on Form 10-K, is the product of a series of transactions that closed on Monday, September 9, 2024. Any references to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “ours” refers to Sirius XM Holdings Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries following the Transactions.
On September 9, 2024 at 4:05 p.m., New York City time, Liberty Media Corporation (“Liberty Media” or “Former Parent”) completed its previously announced split-off (the “Split-Off”) of its former wholly owned subsidiary, Liberty Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (“SplitCo”). The Split-Off was accomplished by Liberty Media redeeming each outstanding share of Liberty Media’s Series A, Series B and Series C Liberty SiriusXM common stock (“Liberty SiriusXM common stock”), par value $0.01 per share, in exchange for 0.8375 of a share of SplitCo common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Redemption”), with cash being paid to entitled record holders of Liberty SiriusXM common stock in lieu of any fractional shares of common stock of SplitCo.
Our subscribers and listeners can obtain similar content for free through Spotify, YouTube and other internet services as well as terrestrial radio stations. We also compete for the time and attention of our listeners with providers of other in-home and mobile entertainment services, and we compete for advertising sales with large scale online advertising platforms, such as YouTube, Amazon, Facebook and Google, and with traditional media outlets.
Our streaming services also compete for listeners on the basis of the presence and visibility of our apps, which are distributed via app stores operated by Apple and Google. We face significant competition for listeners from these companies, which also promote their own music and content. In addition, our competitors’ streaming products may be pre-loaded or integrated into consumer electronics products or automobiles more broadly than our streaming products, creating a significant advantage. If we are unable to compete successfully for listeners against other media providers, then our business may suffer. Additionally, the operator of an app store may reject our app or amend the terms of their license in a way that inhibits our ability to distribute our apps, negatively affects our business, or limits our ability to increase subscribers and listeners.
Competition could result in lower subscription, advertising or other revenue and an increase in our expenses and, consequently, lower our earnings and free cash flow. We cannot assure you we will be able to compete successfully with our existing or future competitors or that competition will not have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition.
Our SiriusXM service has suffered a loss of subscribers, and our Pandora ad-supported service has similarly experienced a loss of monthly active users.
The number of subscribers to our SiriusXM service has declined for the past two years, including in 2025. Similarly, the number of monthly active users to our ad-supported Pandora service has declined consistently for several years, including in
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2025. This loss of subscribers to our SiriusXM service and the decline in monthly active users to our Pandora ad-supported service is likely to continue in the future.
The number of subscribers to our SiriusXM service has declined due to a variety of factors, including a decline in the rate at which new car buyers convert their trial subscriptions into self-pay subscriptions. The decline in the number of SiriusXM subscribers may have a number of collateral effects on our business.
The size of our ad-supported listener base is an important element of our Pandora service. The decline in our listener base, including the shift of listening in connected homes and vehicles, has resulted in fewer listener hours and fewer available advertising spots on our Pandora service, which may contribute to declines in our advertising revenue and adversely affect our Pandora and Off-platform business. The contraction of our ad-supported listener base also decreases the size of demographic groups targeted by advertisers, which hurts our ability to deliver advertising in a manner that maximizes advertisers’ return on investment and compete with other larger advertising platforms.
If our efforts to attract and retain subscribers and listeners, or convert listeners into subscribers, are not successful, our business will be adversely affected.
Our business will be adversely affected if we are unable to attract new subscribers and listeners and retain our current subscribers and listeners.
Our ability to increase the number of subscribers and listeners to our services, retain our subscribers and listeners and convert listeners into subscribers is uncertain and subject to many factors, including:
• the price of our services;
• the ease of use of our services;
• the effectiveness of our marketing programs;
• with respect to our SiriusXM service, the sale or lease rate of new vehicles in the United States;
• the rate at which self-pay subscribers to our SiriusXM service buy and sell new and pre-owned vehicles in the United States;
• our ability to convince owners and lessees of new and used vehicles that include satellite radios to purchase subscriptions to our SiriusXM service;
• the perceived value of our programming and the packages and services we offer;
• our ability to introduce features in a manner that is favorably received by consumers;
• our ability to keep up with rapidly evolving technology and features in audio entertainment;
• our ability to respond to evolving consumer tastes; and
• actions by our competitors, such as Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, YouTube and other audio entertainment and information providers.
We engage in extensive marketing efforts and the continued effectiveness of those efforts is an important part of our business.
We engage in extensive marketing efforts across a broad range of media to attract and retain subscribers and listeners to our services. We employ a wide variety of communications tools as part of our marketing campaigns, including telemarketing efforts, email solicitations and targeted and personalized digital outreach. The effectiveness of our marketing efforts is affected by a broad range of factors, including creative and execution factors and effective targeting. Our ability to reach consumers with radio and television advertising, performance and digital media, direct mail materials, email solicitations, telephone calls and digital campaigns is an important part of our efforts and a significant factor in the effectiveness of our marketing. If we are unable to reach consumers through email solicitations or telemarketing, including as a result of “spam” and email filters, call blocking technologies, restrictions in digital media on identifying users, such as limits on “cookies,” consumer privacy regulations, “do-not-call” and other marketing regulations, our marketing efforts will be adversely affected. A decline in the effectiveness of our marketing efforts could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition.
We rely on third parties for the operation of our business, and the failure of third parties to perform could adversely affect our business.
Our business depends, in part, on various third parties, including:
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• creators and licensors of software that support our apps and services;
• programming providers, including agreements with owners of various copyrights in music, and on-air talent;
• manufacturers that build and distribute satellite radios;
• vendors that have designed, built or launched, and vendors that support or operate, other important elements of our systems, including our satellites, marketing platforms, billing and payment processing, and the cloud-based systems we use;
• companies that manufacture and sell integrated circuits for satellite radios;
• vendors that operate our call centers;
• Apple, who distributes our apps through its App Store and who we rely on to collect fees and approve the terms of our consumer offers; and
• Google, who distributes our apps through its App Store and who we rely on to collect fees and approve the terms of our consumer offers, and who plays an important role in the fulfillment of the ads we sell on our Pandora platform.
If one or more of these third parties do not perform in a satisfactory or timely manner, including complying with our standards and practices relating to business integrity, personnel and cybersecurity, our business could be adversely affected.
The operation of our apps and service offerings could be impaired if errors occur in the software, including third party software, that supports our apps and services. It may be difficult for us to correct any defects in third party software because the development and maintenance of the software is not within our control. Our third party licensors may not continue to make their software available to us on acceptable terms, invest the appropriate levels of resources in their software to maintain and enhance its capabilities, or remain in business. Failure of these third party licensors could harm our streaming services.
In addition, a number of third parties on which we depend have experienced, and may in the future experience, financial difficulties or file for bankruptcy protection. Such third parties may not be able to perform their obligations to us in a timely manner, if at all, as a result of their financial condition or may be relieved of their obligations to us as part of seeking bankruptcy protection.
Failure to successfully monetize and generate revenues from podcasts and other non-music content could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Delivering podcasts and other non-music content involves risks and challenges, including increased competition and the need to develop new relationships with creators. We have entered into multi-year commitments for original podcast content that is produced by third parties. These agreements generally provide us the right to distribute the content and act as the agent for the sale of advertising in the podcasts. Payment terms for certain premium content typically requires more upfront cash payments, including minimum guarantees to the owner or creator of the podcast, than other content licenses or arrangements.
Given the multiple-year duration and largely fixed-cost nature of such commitments, if the attractiveness of such podcast or other non-music content to our listeners and subscribers does not meet our expectations, our margins could be adversely impacted. In addition, the advertising market for podcasts is still developing, including the advertising technology necessary to efficiently sell audio advertising within podcasts at scale. As a result, our ability to profitably monetize the available advertising opportunities in podcasts remains uncertain.
Growing our podcasting business may require additional changes to our business model, cost structure, and our infrastructure, and could expose us to new regulatory, legal and reputational risks. There is no guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient revenue from podcasts to offset the costs of creating or acquiring this content. Our failure to successfully monetize and generate revenues from such content, including failure to obtain or retain rights to podcasts or other non-music content on acceptable terms, or at all, or to effectively manage the numerous risks and challenges associated with such expansion, could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We may not realize the benefits of acquisitions or other strategic investments and initiatives.
Our strategy has included and may include selective acquisitions, other strategic investments and initiatives to expand or reorganize our business. The success of any acquisition depends upon effective integration, cultural assimilation and management of acquired businesses and assets into our operations, which is subject to risks and uncertainties, including realizing the growth potential, the anticipated synergies and cost savings, the ability to retain and attract personnel, the diversion of management’s attention for other business concerns, and undisclosed or potential legal liabilities of the acquired business or assets.
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The integration process could distract our management, disrupt our ongoing business or result in inconsistencies in our services, standards, controls, procedures and policies, any of which could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, vendors and employees or to achieve the anticipated benefits of any such transaction or acquisition.
The impact of economic conditions may adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our success depends to a significant extent on discretionary consumer spending. Some of the factors that may influence consumer spending on entertainment include general economic conditions, the availability of discretionary income, inflationary pressure, consumer confidence, interest rates, and general uncertainty regarding the overall economic environment.
The demand for entertainment generally is sensitive to downturns in the economy and the corresponding impact on discretionary consumer spending. Any actual or perceived deterioration or weakness in general, regional or local economic conditions, as well as other adverse economic or market conditions, could reduce our subscribers’ or potential subscribers’ discretionary income. To the extent that overall economic conditions reduce spending on discretionary items, our ability to attract and retain subscribers could be hindered, which could reduce our subscription revenue and negatively impact our business.
Additionally, our financial performance is subject to economic conditions and their impact on levels of advertising spending. Expenditures by advertisers generally tend to reflect overall economic conditions, and reductions in spending by advertisers could have an adverse impact on our revenue and business. See “ Our Pandora and Off-platform business generates a significant portion of its revenues from advertising, and reduced spending by advertisers could harm our business . ”
Risks Relating to our SiriusXM Business
Changing consumer behavior and new technologies relating to our satellite radio business may reduce our subscribers and may cause our subscribers to purchase fewer services from us or to cancel our services altogether, resulting in less revenue to us.
New technologies, products and services are driving rapid changes in consumer behavior as consumers seek more control over when, where and how they consume audio content and access entertainment services. In particular, through technological advancements, a significant amount of audio content has become available through online content providers for users to stream and, in some cases, view on their phones, personal computers, televisions, tablets, video game consoles and other devices, in some cases without a fee required to access the content. For example, CarPlay, the Apple in-vehicle software, has become a near-ubiquitous feature in new cars, with most manufacturers integrating it into their infotainment systems, allowing iPhone users to readily access music and other audio entertainment while driving.
An increasing number of consumers are using mobile devices as the sole means of consuming audio entertainment, and an increasing number of providers are developing content and technologies to satisfy that demand. These technological advancements, changes in consumer behavior, and the increasing number of choices available to consumers regarding the means by which consumers obtain audio entertainment may cause our subscribers to cancel our satellite radio services, downgrade to smaller, less expensive programming packages, or elect to purchase through online content providers a certain portion of the services that they would have historically purchased from us. These technological advancements and changes in consumer behavior and/or our failure to effectively anticipate or adapt to such changes, could reduce our subscriber additions and increase our churn rate and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
A substantial number of our SiriusXM service subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions, and we cannot predict how successful we will be at retaining customers.
As part of our business, we experience, and expect to experience in the future, subscriber turnover (i.e., churn). The number of subscribers to our SiriusXM service declined in 2024 and 2025 and may further contract in the future. If we are unable to retain current subscribers at expected rates, or the costs of retaining subscribers are higher than expected, our financial performance and operating results could be adversely affected.
We cannot predict how successful we will be at retaining customers who purchase or lease vehicles that include a subscription to our SiriusXM service. A substantial percentage of our SiriusXM subscribers are on promotional pricing plans, and our ability to retain these subscribers is uncertain. Historically, we have been unsuccessful in migrating a large portion of subscribers on promotional pricing plans to higher priced plans. Our promotional pricing strategy is widely known, which
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interferes with our ability to collect our ordinary subscription prices. In addition, a substantial number of those subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions when offered a subscription at a higher price.
Our ability to profitably attract and retain new subscribers to our SiriusXM service is uncertain.
A number of factors may affect our ability to attract and retain subscribers to our SiriusXM service. The changing demographics of trialers to our service, such as the increase in “Millennial generation customers,” may increase the number of subscribers accustomed to consuming entertainment through ad-supported products. These changing demographics have affected and may continue to affect our ability to convert trial subscribers into self-paying subscribers. Similarly, our efforts to acquire subscribers purchasing or leasing pre-owned vehicles may attract price-sensitive consumers. Consumers purchasing or leasing pre-owned vehicles may be more price sensitive than consumers purchasing or leasing new vehicles, convert from trial subscribers to self-paying subscribers at a lower rate, or cancel their subscriptions more frequently than consumers purchasing or leasing new vehicles. Some of our marketing efforts may also attract more price-sensitive subscribers, and our efforts to increase the penetration of satellite radios in new, lower-priced vehicle lines may result in the growth of more economy-minded subscribers. Each of these factors may harm our revenue or require additional spending on marketing efforts to demonstrate the value of our SiriusXM service.
Our business depends in part upon the auto industry.
A substantial portion of the subscription growth for our satellite radio service has come from purchasers and lessees of new and pre-owned automobiles in the United States, and we expect this to be an important source of subscribers for our satellite radio service in the future.
We have agreements with major automakers to include satellite radios in new vehicles, although these agreements do not require automakers to install specific or minimum quantities of radios in any given period. Many of these agreements also require automakers to provide us data on sales of satellite radio-enabled vehicles, including in many cases the consumer’s name and address. Our business could be adversely affected if a number of automakers do not continue to include our SiriusXM service in their products or provide us with such data.
Automotive production and sales are dependent on many factors, including labor relations matters, the availability of vehicle components, national trade policies including tariffs and other trade barriers, consumer credit, general economic conditions, consumer confidence and fuel costs. Significant tariffs on imports from many countries including China, European Union countries, Japan, Canada and Mexico, could have a major impact on the price of auto parts, semi-finished products, components and raw materials and finished vehicles, resulting in declines of vehicle sales by automakers. To the extent vehicle sales decline, or the penetration of factory-installed satellite radios in those vehicles is reduced, our satellite radio service may be adversely impacted.
Sales of pre-owned vehicles represent a significant source of new subscribers for our satellite radio service. We have agreements with auto dealers, companies operating in the pre-owned vehicle market and other third parties to provide us with data on sales of pre-owned satellite radio-enabled vehicles, including in many cases the consumer’s name and address. The continuing availability of this data is important, and the loss or additional restrictions on our use of such data may harm our revenue and business.
Failure of our satellites would significantly damage our business.
The lives of the satellites required to operate our SiriusXM service vary depending on a number of factors, including:
• degradation and durability of solar panels;
• quality of construction;
• random failure of satellite components, which could result in significant damage to or loss of a satellite;
• amount of fuel the satellite consumes;
• the performance of third parties that manage the operation of our satellites; and
• damage or destruction as a result of electrostatic storms, terrorist attacks, collisions with other objects in space or other events, such as nuclear detonations, occurring in space.
In the ordinary course of operation, satellites experience failures of component parts and operational and performance anomalies. Components on several of our in-orbit satellites have failed, and from time to time we have experienced anomalies in the operation and performance of these satellites. These failures and anomalies are expected to continue in the ordinary course, and we cannot predict if any of these possible future events will have a material adverse effect on our operations or the
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life of our existing in-orbit satellites. In addition, we have entered into agreements for the construction and launch of two new satellites that are expected to be launched over the next two years, and material delays in the deployment of these satellites could be harmful to our business.
Any material failure of our operating satellites could cause us to lose customers for our SiriusXM service and could materially harm our reputation and our operating results. We do not have insurance for many of our in-orbit satellites. Additional information regarding our fleet of satellites is contained in the section entitled “Item 1. Business - Our Satellite Radio Systems” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our SiriusXM service may experience harmfulinterference from wireless operations.
The development of applications and services in spectrum adjacent to the frequencies licensed to us, as well as the combination of signals in other frequencies, may cause harmfulinterference to our satellite radio service in certain areas of the United States. Elimination of this interference may not be possible in all cases. In other cases, our efforts to reduce this interference may require extensive engineering efforts and additions to our terrestrial infrastructure. These mitigation efforts may be costly and take several years to implement and may not be entirely effective. In certain cases, we are dependent on the FCC to assist us in preventingharmfulinterference to our service.
Risks Relating to our Pandora and Off-platform Business
Our Pandora and Off-platform business generates a significant portion of its revenues from advertising, and reduced spending by advertisers could harm our business.
Our Pandora and Off-platform business generates a majority of its revenues from third parties advertising on the Pandora ad-supported service and other platforms. These advertisers do not have long-term advertising commitments with us and can terminate their contracts at any time.
Expenditures by advertisers tend to be cyclical, reflecting overall economic conditions and budgeting and buying patterns. Adverse macroeconomic conditions and new competitive product offerings have affected, and may continue to affect, the demand for audio advertising, resulting in fluctuations in the amounts advertisers spend on advertising, which could harm our financial condition and operating results.
Emerging industry trends may adversely impact our ability to generate revenue from advertising.
There are no uniform methods by which our advertiser-clients measure advertising effectiveness. As a result, new methods are regularly created and used by different advertiser-clients. We cannot integrate with all possible technological standards to measure advertising effectiveness and there is no guarantee that the standards with which we choose to integrate will be the standards ultimately selected by the majority of our advertiser-clients. There is also no guarantee that such standards will accurately reflect the true effectiveness of our advertising. Finally, our ability to integrate with technological standards may be limited by both emerging laws and third parties. If we fail to integrate with the technological standards preferred by our clients, or if those methodologies are inaccurate, our revenue may be adversely affected.
Our failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our Pandora ad-supported service could harm our business.
Our ability to attract and retain advertisers, and ultimately to sell our advertising inventory, depends on a number of factors, including:
• the number of listener hours on the Pandora ad-supported service, particularly the number of listener hours attributable to high-value demographics;
• keeping pace with changes in technology and our competitors, some of which have significant influence over the distribution of our Pandora app;
• competing effectively for advertising with other dominant online products and services, such as Spotify, Google, Facebook and YouTube, as well as other marketing and media outlets;
• demonstrating the ability of advertisements to reach targeted audiences, including the value of mobile digital advertising;
• ensuring that new ad formats and ad product offerings are attractive to advertisers and that inventory management decisions (such as changes to ad load, frequency, prominence and quality of ads that we serve listeners) do not have a negative impact on listener hours; and
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• adapting to technologies designed to block the display of our ads.
Advertisers may leave us for competing alternatives at any time. Failure to demonstrate to advertisers the value of our Pandora service would result in reduced spending by, or loss of, advertisers, which would harm our revenue and business.
If we are unable to maintain our advertising revenue, our results of operations will be adversely affected.
In order to effectively monetize listener hours, we must, among other things, develop compelling ad product solutions.
The substantial majority of the total listening to our Pandora service occurs on mobile devices. We are engaged in efforts to continue to convince advertisers of the capabilities and value of mobile digital advertising and to direct an increasing portion of their advertising spend to our ad-supported Pandora service.
We do not currently have the ability to effectively capture a meaningful share of local audio advertising revenue, which may have an adverse impact on our future revenue.
Changes to mobile operating systems and browsers may hinder our ability to sell advertising and market our services.
We use shared common device identifiers that are universal in the advertising technology ecosystem, such as Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers, a random device identifier assigned by Apple to a user's device. We use these common device identifiers for targeting, advertising effectiveness and measurement for the Pandora’s advertising business and for Pandora’s consumer marketing purposes. These common device identifiers enable us to match audiences, including with second- and third-party data providers and measurement vendors, and enhance Pandora’s advertising targeting segments with additional data. In our programmatic advertising business, we use common identifiers for several important functions, such as targeting and bidding. We also use common device identifiers to evaluate the success of our Pandora brand consumer marketing campaigns.
Apple, as well as mobile operating system and browser providers, have implemented product features and plans that may adversely impact our ability to use these common identifiers and data collected in connection with these common identifiers in our Pandora business.
If we fail to accurately predict and play music, comedy or other content that our Pandora listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing listeners and attract new listeners.
A key differentiating factor between our Pandora service and other music content providers is our ability to predict music that our listeners will enjoy. The effectiveness of our personalized playlist generating system depends, in part, on our ability to gather and effectively analyze large amounts of listener data and feedback. We may not continue to be successful in enticing listeners to our Pandora service to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to enough songs to effectively predict and select new and existing songs. In addition, our ability to offer listeners songs that they have not previously heard and impart a sense of discovery depends on our ability to acquire and appropriately categorize additional tracks that will appeal to our listeners’ diverse and changing tastes. Many of our competitors currently have larger music and content catalogs than we offer and they may be more effective in providing their listeners with an appealing listener experience.
We also provide comedy and podcast content on our Pandora service, and we try to predict what our listeners will enjoy using technology similar to the technology that we use to generate personalized playlists for music. The risks that apply to our ability to satisfy our listeners’ musical tastes apply to comedy, podcasts and other content to an even greater extent, particularly since we do not yet have as large a data set on listener preferences for comedy, podcasts and other content, and have a smaller catalog of such content as compared to music.
Our ability to predict and select music, comedy, podcasts and other content that our listeners enjoy is important to the perceived value of our Pandora service to consumers and the failure to make accurate predictions would adversely affect our ability to attract and retain subscribers and listeners, increase listener hours and sell advertising.
Risks Relating to Laws and Governmental Regulations
Privacy and data security laws and regulations may hinder our ability to market our services, sell advertising and impose legal liabilities.
We receive a substantial amount of personal data from third parties on purchasers and lessees of new and pre-owned vehicles and from and about listeners to our services. We use this personal data to market our services and to enhance our advertising business. Regulations and obligations on third party data providers may restrict or reduce the third party data we
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receive or the manner in which we use such third party data. We collect and use demographic, service usage, purchase history and other information from and about our listeners through interactions with our products and services and content over the internet. Further, we and third parties use tracking technologies, including “cookies” and related technologies, to help us manage and track our listeners’ interactions with our services and deliver relevant advertising.
Various federal and state laws and regulations, as well as the laws of foreign jurisdictions, govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of the personal data we receive. Privacy groups and government authorities have increasingly scrutinized the ways in which companies collect and share personal data, and we expect such scrutiny to increase. Allegedviolations of laws and regulations relating to privacy and personal data may expose us to potential liability, may require us to expend significant resources in responding to and defending such allegations and claims and could in the future result in negative publicity and a loss of confidence in us by our subscribers, listeners, advertisers and other third parties.
Privacy-related laws and regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and the European General Data Protection Regulation, are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. Various federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies as well as foreign legislative and regulatory bodies may expand current or enact new laws regarding privacy and data security-related matters. We may not be in compliance with all of the new laws and regulations regarding privacy.
New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws and contractual obligations, as well as changes in our listeners’ expectations and demands regarding privacy and data security, may limit our ability to collect and use consumer data. Restrictions on our ability to receive, collect and use consumer data could limit our ability to attract and retain subscribers and listeners to our services. In addition, restrictions on our ability to collect, access and process listener data, or to use or disclose listener data or profiles that we develop using such data, could limit our ability to market our content and services to our potential listeners and offer targeted advertising opportunities to our advertisers, each of which are important to our business. Increased regulation of personal data utilization practices and compliance administration could increase our costs of operation or otherwise adversely affect our business.
Consumer protection laws and our failure to comply with them could damage our business.
Federal and state consumer protection laws, rules and regulations cover nearly all aspects of our marketing efforts. The nature of our business requires us to expend significant resources to try to ensure that our marketing activities comply with consumer protection laws. These efforts may not be successful, and we may have to expend even greater resources in our compliance efforts.
In November 2024, a New York Court found that our cancellation practices violated the “simple mechanism requirement” for subscription cancellations in the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. As a result of the Court’s findings, we now permit New York residents who purchase a subscription online to also cancel that subscription online, a cancellation mechanism that we believe is at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to initiate the subscription. In addition, other governmental authorities have commenced investigations into our consumer practices, including the manner in which we allow consumers to cancel subscriptions to our services.
Modifications to consumer protection laws, including laws regarding the manner in which consumers can cancel our services as well as decisions by courts and administrative agencies interpreting these laws, could have an adverse impact on our ability to attract and retain subscribers and listeners to our services. There can be no assurance that new laws or regulations will not be enacted or adopted, pre-existing laws or regulations will not be more strictly enforced or that our operations will comply with all applicable laws, which could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition.
Failure to comply with FCC requirements could damage our business.
We hold FCC licenses and authorizations to operate commercial satellite radio services in the United States, including satellites, terrestrial repeaters and related authorizations. The FCC generally grants licenses and authorizations for a fixed term. Although we expect our licenses and authorizations to be renewed in the ordinary course upon their expiration, there can be no assurance that this will be the case. Any assignment or transfer of control of any of our FCC licenses or authorizations must be approved in advance by the FCC.
The operation of our satellite radio systems is subject to significant regulation by the FCC under authority granted through the Communications Act of 1934 and related federal law. We are required, among other things, to operate only within specified frequencies; to coordinate our satellite radio services with radio systems operating in the same range of frequencies in neighboring countries; and to coordinate our communications links to our satellites with other systems that operate in the same frequency band.
Noncompliance by us with these requirements or other conditions or with other applicable FCC rules and regulations could result in fines, additional license conditions, license revocation or other detrimental FCC actions. There is no guarantee
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that Congress will not modify the statutory framework governing our services, or that the FCC will not modify its rules and regulations in a manner that would have an adverse impact on our operations.
We may face lawsuits, incur liability or suffer reputational harm as a result of content published or made available through our services.
The nature of our business could expose us to claims or public criticism related to defamation, illegal content, misinformation, and content regulation. We could incur costs investigating and defending any such claims. In addition, some stakeholders may disagree with third-party content provided through our services, and negative public criticism of this content could damage our reputation and brands. If we incur material costs, liability, or negative consumer reaction as a result of these occurrences, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely impacted.
Increasing interest and expectations regarding sustainable business practices by our various stakeholders and related reporting obligations may expose us to potential liabilities, increased costs, reputational harm and other adverse effects.
In recent years, there has been heightened interest from governments, regulators, investors, employees, customers and other stakeholders on sustainability matters (sometimes called “ESG” matters), including climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; human capital management; cybersecurity; content moderation; diversity and inclusion; and human and civil rights. Our reporting and disclosures in response to these expectations may require additional investments and reporting processes, introduce additional compliance risk, and depend in part on third-party performance or data that is outside our control. Related initiatives, and implementation of these initiatives, also involve risks and uncertainties, and we cannot guarantee that we will make progressagainst or achieve any sustainability-related objectives that we have announced or may announce in the future. Furthermore, more recently different stakeholder groups and the federal government have advocated divergent (or conflicting) views on ESG matters, which increases the risk that any action, or lack thereof, with respect to ESG matters will be perceived unfavorably by certain stakeholders. In addition, a growing number of U.S. states have enacted or proposed “anti-ESG” or “anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies, legislation, initiatives or issued related legal opinions, and have engaged in related litigation regarding ESG matters. Such outcomes could negatively impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Any failure, or perceived failure, to further our initiatives, adhere to public statements, comply with federal or state sustainability laws and regulations, or meet evolving and varied stakeholder expectations and standards could result in legal and regulatory proceedings against us and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, and operations results.
Risks Associated with Data and Cybersecurity and the Protection of Consumer Information
If we fail to protect the security of personal information about our customers, we could be subject to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation could suffer.
The nature of our business involves the receipt and storage of personal information about our subscribers and listeners including, in some cases, credit and debit card information. We have a program in place to detect and respond to data security incidents. However, the techniques used to gainunauthorized access to data systems are constantly evolving and may not be detected for long periods of time. We may be unable to anticipate or prevent unauthorized access to data pertaining to our customers, including credit card and debit card information and other personally identifiable information. Our services, which are supported by our own systems and those of third-party vendors, could be subject to computer malware and attacks as well as to catastrophic events (such as fires, floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes), any of which could lead to system interruptions, delays, or shutdowns, causing loss of critical data or the unauthorized access to personally identifiable information.
If an actual or perceived breach of security occurs on our systems or a vendor’s systems, we could be exposed to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation could suffer. We may also be required to expend significant resources to address these problems, including notification under various data privacy regulations, and our operating results could suffer. In addition, our subscribers and listeners, as well as potential customers, could lose confidence in our ability to protect their personal information, which could cause them to discontinue or forego the use of our services. This loss of confidence would also harm our efforts to attract and retain advertisers and to obtain personal information from third parties, and unauthorized access to our programming would potentially create additional royalty expense with no corresponding revenue. Such events could adversely affect our results of operations. Further, the costs of maintaining adequate protection against such threats as they develop in the future (or as legal requirements related to data security increase) could be material.
In addition, hardware, software, or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities, or those of third parties with whom we do business, through fraud, trickery,
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or other forms of deceit. We may not be able to effectively control the unauthorized actions of third parties who may have access to the data we collect.
To date, we are not aware that we have had a significant cyber-attack or breach that has had a material impact on our business or results of operations. We have implemented systems and processes intended to secure our information technology systems and prevent unauthorized access to or loss of sensitive, confidential and personal data, including through the use of encryption and authentication technologies. Additionally, we have increased our monitoring capabilities to enhance early detection and timely response to potential security anomalies.
However, the cyber security measures we have implemented may not be sufficient to prevent all possible attacks and may be vulnerable to hacking, employee error, ransom attacks, malfeasance, system error, faulty password management, social engineering or other irregularities. Further, the development and maintenance of these measures are costly and require ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become increasingly sophisticated.
We use artificial intelligence in our business, and challenges with properly managing its use could result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and adversely affect our results of operations.
We incorporate various artificial intelligence (“AI”) solutions into our digital infrastructure, services, offerings and features, and these applications are becoming important in our operations. We have general policies regarding the use of AI platforms in our business and seek to monitor the use of AI based applications throughout our enterprise. However, such measures may not eliminate the risks related to the use of AI in our business. Additionally, if the content, analyses, search results or recommendations that AI applications assist in producing are, or are alleged to be, deficient, inaccurate, biased or in violation of third parties’ intellectual property rights, our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely affected.
The use of AI applications may result in cybersecurity incidents that implicate the personal data of consumers. Any such cybersecurity incidents related to our use of AI applications could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. AI also presents emerging ethical issues, such as the proper use of copyrighted material with AI applications, and if our use of AI becomes controversial, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, or legal liability. The rapid evolution of AI, including the government regulation of AI, will require significant resources to develop, test and maintain our platform, offerings, services, and features to help us implement AI in a manner that minimizes unintended, harmful impacts.
Regulations related to AI may also impose on us certain obligations and costs related to monitoring and compliance. Regulators are increasing scrutiny and considering, and in some cases enacting, regulation of the use of AI, including regarding the use of “big data,” diligence of data sets and oversight of data vendors. The use of AI by us and others may require compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks that are not fully developed or tested, and we may face litigation and regulatory actions related to our use of AI.
Our competitors or other third parties may incorporate AI into their products and operations more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively and adversely affect our results of operations.
Interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business.
We rely on our own systems and systems of third-party vendors to enable subscribers and listeners to access our Pandora and SiriusXM services in a dependable and efficient manner. Any degradation in the quality, or any failure, of our systems could reduce our revenues, cause us to lose customers and damage our brands. Although we have implemented practices designed to maintain the availability of the information technology and service delivery systems we rely on and mitigate the harm of any unplannedinterruptions, we cannot anticipate all eventualities. We occasionally experience unplannedoutages or technical difficulties. We could also experience loss of data or processing capabilities, which could cause us to lose customers and could harm our reputation and operating results.
We rely on internal systems and external systems maintained by manufacturers, distributors and service providers to take, fulfill and handle customer service requests and host certain online activities. Any interruption or failure of our internal or external systems could prevent us from servicing customers or cause data to be unintentionallydisclosed. Our services have experienced, and we expect them to continue to experience, periodic service interruptions and delays involving our own systems and those of our vendors.
Our data centers and our information technology and communications systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, malicious attacks, fire, power loss, telecommunications failures, computer viruses or other attempts to harm our systems. The occurrence of any of these events could result in interruptions in our services and unauthorized access
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to, or alteration of, the content and data contained on our systems and that these third-party vendors store and deliver on our behalf.
Damage or interruption to data centers and information technology and communications centers could expose us to data loss or manipulation, disruption of service, monetary and reputational damages, competitive disadvantage and significant increases in compliance costs and costs to improve the security and resiliency of our computer systems. The compromise of personal, confidential or proprietary information could also subject us to legal liability or regulatory action under evolving cybersecurity, data protection and privacy laws and regulations enacted by the U.S. federal and state governments or other foreign jurisdictions or by various regulatory organizations. As a result, our ability to conduct our business and our results of operations might be adversely affected.
Risks Associated with Certain Intellectual Property Rights
Rapid technological and industry changes and new entrants could adversely impact our services.
The audio entertainment industry is characterized by rapid technological change, frequent product and feature innovations, changes in customer requirements and expectations, evolving standards and new entrants offering products and services. If we are unable to keep pace with these changes, our business may not succeed. Products using new technologies could make our services less competitive in the marketplace.
The market for music rights is changing and is subject to significant uncertainties.
We must maintain music programming royalty arrangements with, and pay license fees to, owners of rights in musical works in order to operate our services. Traditionally, BMI, ASCAP, SESAC and GMR have negotiated for these copyright users, collected royalties and distributed them to songwriters and music publishers. These traditional arrangements are changing. The fracturing of the traditional system for licensing rights in musical works may have significant consequences to our business, including increasing licensing costs and reducing the availability of certain pieces for use on our services.
Under the United States Copyright Act, we also must pay royalties to copyright owners of sound recordings for the performance of such sound recordings on our SiriusXM service. Those royalty rates may be established through negotiation or, if negotiation is unsuccessful, by the Copyright Royalty Board. Owners of copyrights in sound recordings have created SoundExchange, an organization which negotiates licenses and collects and distributes royalties on behalf of record companies and performing artists. SoundExchange is exempt by statute from certain U.S. antitrust laws and exercises significant market power in the licensing of sound recordings. Under the terms of the Copyright Royalty Board’s existing decision governing sound recording royalties for satellite radio, we are required to pay a royalty based on our gross revenues associated with our satellite radio service, subject to certain exclusions, of 15.5% per year through December 31, 2027. A proceeding to determine sound recording royalties for satellite radio for the period beginning January 1, 2028 and ending December 31, 2032, has been noticed.
As discussed above under the caption Item 1. Business – Copyrights to Programming – Sound Recordings, in January 2024, the CRB commenced a rate setting proceeding covering the statutory license for non-interactive streaming services for the period from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2030.
Significant increases in royalty rates may materially impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our Pandora services depend upon maintaining complex licenses with copyright owners, and these licenses contain onerous terms.
Pandora has direct license agreements with many sound recording copyright and musical work copyright owners. These agreements grant us the right to operate Pandora Premium, and add interactive features, such as replays, additional skips and offline play, to Pandora’s ad-supported service and to Pandora Plus.
The economic terms of these direct licenses are onerous and grant the licensors broad rights over the Pandora services. As a result of these terms, we may not be able to profitably operate the Pandora services. However, the economic terms of these direct licenses may be “market,” given the rates paid by Pandora’s competitors. Competition for Pandora’s services are primarily offered by entities that provide music and entertainment services as a small part of a larger business, such as Apple, Google, Amazon and YouTube. These competitors have the ability to bear these onerous economic provisions to a much greater extent than our Pandora business. We have not been able to negotiate or obtain lower royalty rates under these direct licenses.
These direct licenses are complex. We may not be in compliance with the terms of these licenses, which could result in the loss of some or all of these licenses and some or all of the rights they convey. Similarly, many of these licenses provide that
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if the licensor loses rights in a portion of the content licensed under the agreement, that content may be removed from the license going-forward.
If Pandora fails to maintain these direct licenses, or if rights to certain music were no longer available under these licenses, then we may have to remove the affected music from Pandora’s services, or discontinue certain interactive features for such music, and it might become commercially impractical for us to operate Pandora Premium, Pandora Plus or certain features of our advertising-supported service. Any of these occurrences could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Several of these direct licenses also include provisions related to the terms of those agreements relative to other content licensing arrangements, which are commonly referred to as “most favored nation” clauses. These provisions have caused, and may in the future cause, our payments under those agreements to escalate substantially. In addition, SoundExchange, many record labels, music publishers and performing rights organizations have the right to audit our royalty payments, and these audits often result in disputes over whether we have paid the proper amounts. As a result of such audits, we could be required to pay additional amounts, audit fees and interest or penalties, and the amounts involved could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
There is no guarantee that these direct licenses will be renewed in the future or that such licenses will be available on the economic terms associated with the current licenses. If we are unable to secure and maintain direct licenses for the rights to provide music on our Pandora services on terms similar to those under our current direct licenses, our content costs could rise and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Failure to protect our intellectual property or actions by third parties to enforce their intellectual property rights could substantially harm our business and operating results.
Development of our systems has depended upon the intellectual property that we have developed, as well as intellectual property licensed from third parties. If the intellectual property that we have developed or use is not adequately protected, others will be permitted to and may duplicate portions of our systems or services without liability. In addition, others may challenge, invalidate, render unenforceable or circumvent our intellectual property rights, patents or existing licenses or we may face significant legal costs in connection with defending and enforcing those intellectual property rights. Some of the know-how and technology we have developed, and plan to develop, is not now, nor will it be, covered by U.S. patents or trade secret protections. Trade secret protection and contractual agreements may not provide adequate protection if there is any unauthorized use or disclosure. The loss of necessary technologies could require us to substitute technologies of lower quality performance standards, at greater cost or on a delayed basis, which could harm us.
Other parties may have patents or pending patent applications, which will later mature into patents or inventions that may block or put limits on our ability to operate our system or license our technologies. We may have to resort to litigation to enforce our rights under license agreements or to determine the scope and validity of other parties’ proprietary rights in the subject matter of those licenses. This may be expensive and we may not succeed in any such litigation.
Third parties may assert claims or bring suit against us for patent, trademark or copyright infringement, or for other infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights. Any such litigation could be costly, divert our efforts from our business, subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties, block our ability to operate our services or license our technology, or otherwise adversely affect our ability to successfully develop and market our services.
Some of our services and technologies use “open source” software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our services or require that we release the source code subject to those licenses.
We incorporate in some products software licensed under “open source” licenses. Open source licenses often require that the source code be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to the open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. Few courts have interpreted open source licenses, and the manner in which these licenses may be interpreted and enforced is therefore subject to uncertainty. In the event that portions of our proprietary technology are determined to be subject to an open source license, we may be required to publicly release portions of our source code, be forced to re-engineer all or a portion of our technologies, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our technologies, each of which could adversely affect our ability to sustain and grow our business.
Risks Related to our Capital Structure
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While we currently pay a quarterly cash dividend to holders of our common stock, we may change our dividend policy at any time.
We currently pay a quarterly cash dividend to holders of our common stock, although we have no obligation to do so, and our dividend policy may change at any time without notice to our stockholders. The declaration and payment of dividends is at the discretion of our board of directors in accordance with applicable law after considering various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs, limitations imposed by our indebtedness, legal requirements and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant.
Our holding company structure could restrict access to funds of our subsidiaries that may be needed to pay third party obligations.
Sirius XM Holdings is a holding company, and its assets consist of its investments in its subsidiaries, including Sirius XM Inc. and Sirius XM Radio LLC. As a holding company, our ability to meet our financial obligations to third parties is dependent upon our available cash balances, distributions from subsidiaries and other investments and proceeds from any asset sales. Further, our ability to receive dividends or payments or advances from our subsidiaries’ businesses depends on their individual operating results, any statutory, regulatory or contractual restrictions to which they are or may become subject and the terms of their indebtedness (including the restrictive covenants contained in Sirius XM Radio LLC’s credit agreement and indentures) and any additional debt they may incur in the future. Accordingly, our ability to make payments to third parties and to otherwise meet our financial obligations at the holding company level may be constricted.
We have significant indebtedness, and our subsidiaries’ debt contains certain covenants that restrict their operations.
We have significant indebtedness. As of December 31, 2025, we had an aggregate principal amount of approximately $9.8 billion of indebtedness outstanding.
Our indebtedness and the indebtedness of our subsidiaries:
• increases our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
• requires us and our subsidiaries to dedicate a portion of our and/or their cash flow from operations to payments on indebtedness, reducing the availability of cash flow to fund capital expenditures, marketing and other general corporate activities;
• limits our and our subsidiaries’ abilities to borrow additional funds; and
• may limit our and our subsidiaries’ flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the audio entertainment industry.
In addition, Sirius XM Radio LLC’s borrowings under its Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility (the “Credit Facility”), including the Incremental Term Loan (the “Delayed Draw Incremental Term Loan”), carry a variable interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). Sirius XM Radio LLC may, in the future, hedge against interest rate fluctuations by using hedging instruments such as swaps, caps, options, forwards, futures or other similar products. These instruments may be used to selectively manage risks, but there can be no assurance that we will be fully protected against material interest rate fluctuations.
If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to repay or refinance our debt on favorable terms, it could significantly adversely affect our financial condition and the value of our outstanding debt.
Our ability to incur additional indebtedness to fund our operations could be limited, which could negatively impact our operations.
We have a substantial amount of indebtedness maturing in the next several years. Our ability to refinance our indebtedness on favorable terms, or at all, is dependent on (among other things) conditions in the credit and capital markets, which are beyond our control. In addition, any such refinancing efforts may increase our debt service obligations as we refinance lower interest rate debt with higher interest rate debt. Any refinancing of our debt may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. If additional debt financing is not available to us in the future or we are unable to access funds of our subsidiaries, we may obtain liquidity through the issuance and sale of our equity securities. If additional funds are raised through the issuance of equity securities, our stockholders may experience significant dilution. If we are unable to obtain sufficient liquidity in the future, we may be unable to continue to develop our business, complete acquisitions or otherwise take advantage of business opportunities or respond to competitive pressures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Risks Relating to the Transactions
We may have a significant indemnity obligation to Liberty Media, which is not limited in amount or subject to any cap, if the transactions associated with the Split-Off are treated as a taxable transaction.
Pursuant to the Tax Sharing Agreement that we entered into with Liberty Media in connection with the Split-Off, we are required to indemnify Liberty Media, its subsidiaries and certain related persons for taxes and losses (other than any taxes or tax-related losses that result from Section 355(e) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) applying to the Split-Off as a result of the Split-Off being part of a plan (or series of related transactions) pursuant to which one or more persons acquire a 50-percent or greater interest (measured by vote or value) in the stock of Liberty Media) resulting from the failure of the transactions associated with the Split-Off to qualify as a generally tax-free transaction under Section 355, Section 368(a)(1)(D) and related provisions of the Code to the extent that such taxes and losses (a) result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the breach of certain covenants made by us (applicable to actions or failures to act by us and our subsidiaries following the completion of the Split-Off), (b) result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the failure of certain representations made by us in support of the opinion of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (“Skadden Arps”) regarding the generally tax-free status of the transactions associated with the Split-Off to be true and correct, or (c) result from the application of Section 355(e) of the Code to the Split-Off as a result of the treatment of the Split-Off as part of a plan (or series of related transactions) pursuant to which one or more persons acquire, directly or indirectly, a 50% or greater interest (measured by vote or value) in our stock (or any successor corporation), except, in the case of clauses (a) and (b), if such taxes and losses result from an action required to be taken pursuant to the agreements governing the Transactions.
Our indemnification obligations to Liberty Media, its subsidiaries and certain related persons are not limited in amount or subject to any cap. If we are required to indemnify Liberty Media, its subsidiaries or such related persons under the circumstances set forth in the Tax Sharing Agreement, we may be subject to substantial liabilities, which could materially adversely affect our financial position.
We may determine to forgo certain transactions that might otherwise be advantageous in order to avoid the risk of incurring significant tax-related liabilities.
Under the Tax Sharing Agreement, we agreed not to take certain actions, or fail to take any action, following the Split-Off, which action or failure to act would be inconsistent with the transactions associated with the Split-Off qualifying under Section 355, Section 368(a)(1)(D) and related provisions of the Code. In particular, for the two-year period following the distribution, we are subject to specific restrictions that are intended to preserve the generally tax-free status of the Split-Off, including restrictions on our ability to discontinue the conduct of certain businesses, to merge, consolidate, liquidate, or dissolve Sirius XM Holdings or Sirius XM Inc., to redeem or repurchase our common stock, or to enter into certain other corporate transactions that may cause us to undergo either a 45% or greater change in the ownership of our voting stock or a 45% or greater change in the ownership (measured by value) of all classes of our stock, taking into account the Merger. Further, the Tax Sharing Agreement requires us to indemnify Liberty Media for any taxes or losses (subject to certain exceptions) incurred by Liberty Media (or its subsidiaries) to the extent that such taxes and losses (a) result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the breach of certain covenants made by us (applicable to actions or failures to act by us and our subsidiaries following the completion of the Split-Off), (b) result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the failure of certain representations made by us in support of the opinion of Skadden Arps regarding the generally tax-free status of the transactions associated with the Split-Off to be true and correct, or (c) result from the application of Section 355(e) of the Code to the Split-Off as a result of the treatment of the Split-Off as part of a plan (or series of related transactions) pursuant to which one or more persons acquire, directly or indirectly, a 50% or greater interest (measured by vote or value) in our stock (or any successor corporation).
Under Section 355(e) of the Code, an acquisition of our stock would generally be presumed to be part of a plan (or series of related transactions) with the Split-Off if such acquisition occurs within two years before or after the Split-Off (or if such stock is received in the Split-Off in exchange for Liberty SiriusXM common stock (as defined in Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations) that was acquired within the two years before the Split-Off). This presumption, however, may be rebutted based upon an analysis of the facts and circumstances related to the Split-Off and the particular acquisition in question, including a weighing of certain plan and non-plan factors set forth in U.S. Treasury Regulations promulgated under Section 355(e) of the Code. Further, these U.S. Treasury Regulations provide certain safe harbors under which an acquisition will be deemed not to be part of a plan (or series of related transactions) with the Split-Off for purposes of Section 355(e) of the Code.
In light of the Tax Sharing Agreement and the requirements under Section 355 of the Code, including the factors and safe harbors described above, we may determine to forgo certain transactions that might otherwise be advantageous. In
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particular, we may determine to continue to operate certain of our business operations for the foreseeable future even if a sale of such business operations might otherwise be advantageous. Moreover, we might determine to forgo certain transactions, including share repurchases, stock issuances, certain asset dispositions and other strategic transactions, for some period of time following the Split-Off. In addition, our indemnity obligations under the Tax Sharing Agreement might discourage, delay or prevent us entering into a change of control transaction for some period of time following the Split-Off.
We have assumed and are responsible for all of the liabilities attributed to the Liberty SiriusXM Group as a result of the completion of the Transactions, and acquired the assets of SplitCo on an “as is, where is” basis.
We acquired all of SplitCo’s assets and assumed, performed, discharged and fulfilled all of the liabilities of SplitCo, as applicable, regardless of when or where such liabilities arose or arise. The assets of SplitCo were conveyed to us on an “as is, where is” basis, and while Liberty Media is subject to certain indemnification obligations in favor of us, these are generally limited to indemnification for certain indemnifiable losses to the extent arising out of, relating to or in connection with the businesses, assets and liabilities retained by Liberty Media (or any third party claims related thereto) or any breach or failure to perform or comply with any covenant, undertaking or obligation of Liberty Media or its subsidiaries (other than us or our subsidiaries).
Furthermore, there are no remedies available to the parties to the Merger Agreement with respect to any breach of representations of such parties, except for certain rights the party may have under applicable law to bring a claim for fraud or willful breach of the Merger Agreement.
As a result, we bear full responsibility for any and all assets and liabilities of SplitCo. To the extent any of the liabilities of SplitCo are larger than anticipated, or an issue with any asset of SplitCo prohibits our businesses from performing as planned, they could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be harmed by securities class actions and derivative lawsuits in connection with the Transactions.
Securities class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits are often brought against public companies that have entered into agreements for significant transactions such as the Transactions in an effort to seek monetary relief. In October 2024, purported stockholders commenced an action in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware against Liberty Media, John C. Malone and members of the board of directors of Old Sirius relating to the Transactions. The plaintiffsallege that the Transactions were unfair to minority stockholders and undulyfavored Liberty Media because, among other things: we have taken on tax liabilities; we have assumed Liberty Media’s debt; and the Transactions enabled Liberty Media to appoint a majority of our board of directors with staggered terms to give Liberty Media at least three years of board-level control. The plaintiffs also allege that the Transactions closed a multi-billion-dollar valuation gap between the price at which the Liberty SiriusXM common stock traded in the market and the net asset value of the underlying assets the Liberty SiriusXM common stock “tracked,” which solely benefited Liberty Media stockholders, and that the Special Committee failed to negotiate a fair exchange ratio in light of these benefits to Liberty Media.
Even if such lawsuit, and future lawsuits relating to the Transactions, are without merit or resolved in our favor, defendingagainst these claims may result in substantial costs and divert management time and resources from other potentially beneficial business opportunities. We cannot predict whether additional lawsuits will be brought against us or the outcome of the pending lawsuit, nor can we predict the amount of time and expense that will be required to resolve any of this litigation.
It may be difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing so may be beneficial to our stockholders.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated charter and amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control that a stockholder may consider favorable.
These provisions include the following:
• establishing a classified board of directors, with staggered terms until the third annual meeting after the effective time of the Merger, which may lengthen the time required to gain control of our board of directors;
• allowing the authorized number of directors on the board of directors to be changed only by resolution of the board of directors;
• permitting only the board of directors to fill vacancies on the board;
• limiting who may call special meetings of stockholders;
• prohibiting stockholder action by written consent (subject to certain exceptions), thereby requiring stockholder action to be taken at a meeting of the stockholders;
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• requiring stockholder approval by holders of at least 66-2∕3% in voting power of all then-outstanding shares entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class, with respect to an amendment to our amended and restated bylaws and with respect to an amendment to particular articles of our amended and restated charter;
• establishing advance notice requirements for nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings;
• no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect candidates to serve as a director on the board;
• an exclusive forum provision providing that (a) the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings and (b) the federal district courts will be the exclusive forum for causes of action arising under federal securities law, in each case unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum; and
• the existence of authorized and unissued stock, including “blank check” preferred stock, which could be issued by our board of directors to persons friendly to our then-current management, thereby protecting the continuity of our management, or which could be used to dilute the stock ownership of persons seeking to obtain control of us.
Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware and are governed by Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), pursuant to our amended and restated charter, an “interested stockholder” (as such term is defined in the DGCL) is prohibited from merging or combining with us, or engaging in other “business combinations,” for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of the outstanding voting stock, except in certain circumstances. These provisions in our amended and restated charter and amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control that a stockholder may consider favorable.
We have directors associated or previously associated with Liberty Media, which may lead to conflicting interests.
The members of our board of directors owe fiduciary duties to our stockholders. Dr. Evan Malone, a member of our board of directors, also serves as a director of Liberty Media and, as such, also owes fiduciary duties to Liberty Media’s stockholders. Therefore, Mr. Malone may have conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving or affecting Liberty Media. For example, there may be the potential for a conflict of interest if any conflict arises under the Tax Sharing Agreement or when we or Liberty Media look at acquisitions and other corporate opportunities that may be suitable for each company. Moreover, our Chairman of the board of directors, Gregory B. Maffei, who is a former president, chief executive officer and director of Liberty Media, and certain other of our directors may continue to own Liberty Media common stock, restricted stock units and options to purchase Liberty Media common stock. These ownership interests could create, or appear to create, potential conflicts of interest when these individuals are faced with decisions that could have different implications for us or Liberty Media. Any potential conflict that could qualify as a “related party transaction” (as defined in Item 404 of Regulation S-K) will be subject to review by an independent committee of the applicable company’s board of directors in accordance with its corporate governance guidelines. Any other potential conflicts that arise will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, keeping in mind the applicable fiduciary duties owed by the executive officers and directors of each company. From time to time, Liberty Media or its respective affiliates may enter into transactions with us and/or our subsidiaries or other affiliates. Although the terms of any such transactions or agreements will be established based upon negotiations between employees of the companies involved, there can be no assurance that the terms of any such transactions will be as favorable to us, or our subsidiaries or affiliates as would be the case where the parties are completely at arms’ length.
Our directors and officers are protected from liability for a broad range of actions.
Delaware law permits limiting or eliminating the monetary liability of a director and, subject to certain limitations set forth in the DGCL, certain officers, to a corporation or its stockholders, except with regard to breaches of the duty of loyalty, acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentionalmisconduct or knowing violation of law, in the case of directors, unlawful payment of dividends or unlawful stock purchase or redemption, any transaction from which a director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, or, in the case of officers, any action by or in the right of the corporation. Our amended and restated charter eliminates the liability of its directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.
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Other Operational Risks
If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our business could be harmed.
We believe that our success depends on our continued ability to attract and retain qualified management, sales, technical and other personnel. All of our employees, including our executive officers, are free to terminate their employment with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business may be difficult to replace.
Qualified individuals are in high demand, particularly in the media and technology industries and we may incur significant costs to attract and retain employees. If we are unable to attract and retain our key employees, we may not be able to achieve our objectives, and our business could be harmed.
Our facilities could be damaged by natural catastrophes or terrorist activities.
An earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood, fires, cyber-attack, terrorist attack, civil unrest or other catastrophic event could damage our data centers, studios, terrestrial repeater networks or satellite uplink facilities, interrupt our services and harm our business. We also have significant operations in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. Natural disasters and extreme weather conditions can be caused or exacerbated by climate change.
Any damage to the satellites that transmit to our terrestrial repeater networks would likely result in degradation of the affected service for some SiriusXM subscribers and could result in complete loss of satellite radio service in certain or all areas. Damage to our satellite uplink facilities could result in a complete loss of our satellite radio service until we could transfer operations to suitable back-up facilities.
The unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation and mass arbitrations could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition.
We are parties to several legal proceedings arising out of various aspects of our business, including possible class actions arising out of our marketing practices and governmental actions and possible class actions and mass arbitration demands arising from, among other issues, our pricing and cancellation practices. The outcome of these proceedings may not be favorable, and one or more unfavorable outcomes could have an adverse impact on our financial condition. See “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information on our material legal proceedings.
We may be exposed to liabilities that other entertainment service providers would not customarily be subject to.
We design, establish specifications, source or specify parts and components, and manage various aspects of the logistics of the production of satellite radios and our apps. As a result of these activities, we may be exposed to liabilities associated with the design, manufacture and distribution of radios and apps that the providers of an entertainment service would not customarily be subject to, such as liabilities for design defects, patent infringement and compliance with applicable laws, as well as the costs of returned product.
Our business and prospects depend on the strength of our brands.
Maintaining and enhancing our brands is an important part of our strategy to expand our base of subscribers, listeners and advertisers. Our brands may be impaired by a number of factors, including service outages, data privacy and security issues and exploitation of our trademarks by others without permission. Our ability to maintain and enhance our brands also depends in part on our ability to continue to develop and provide an innovative and high-quality entertainment experience, which we may not do successfully.
Following the Split-Off, on September 9, 2024 at 6:00 p.m., New York City time (the “Merger Effective Time”), a wholly owned subsidiary of SplitCo merged with and into Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (“Old Sirius”), with Old Sirius surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of SplitCo (the “Merger” and together with the Split-Off, the “Transactions”). Upon consummation of the Merger, each share of common stock of Old Sirius, par value $0.001 per share, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Merger Effective Time (other than shares owned by SplitCo and its subsidiaries) was converted into one-tenth (0.1) of a share of SplitCo common stock, with cash being paid to entitled record holders of Old Sirius common stock in lieu of any fractional shares of common stock of SplitCo.
At the Merger Effective Time, Old Sirius was renamed “Sirius XM Inc.” and SplitCo was renamed “Sirius XM Holdings Inc.” In connection with the Transactions and by operation of Rule 12g-3(a) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), SplitCo became the successor issuer to Old Sirius and succeeded to the attributes of Old Sirius as the registrant, including Old Sirius's Commission File Number and CIK number. Upon completion of the Transactions, Liberty Media ceased to own any shares of Sirius XM Holdings Inc.
On September 6, 2024, Sirius XM Radio LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, converted from a Delaware corporation to a Delaware limited liability company.
We operate two complementary audio entertainment businesses - our SiriusXM business and our Pandora and Off-platform business.
SiriusXM
Our SiriusXM business features a wide range of content, including, music, sports, entertainment, comedy, talk and news channels, podcasts and infotainment services, all available in the United States on a subscription fee basis. SiriusXM holds a 70% equity interest and 33% voting interest in Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. ( “ Sirius XM Canada ” ).
The primary source of revenue from the SiriusXM business is subscription fees, with most of its customers subscribing to monthly or annual plans. Additional revenue streams include advertising on select music and non-music channels in certain packages, direct sales of radios and accessories, and other ancillary services. As of December 31, 2025, the SiriusXM business had approximately 32.9 million subscribers in the U.S., while Sirius XM Canada had approximately 2.4 million subscribers. Sirius XM Canada's subscribers are not included in our subscriber count or subscriber-based operating metrics.
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In addition to our audio entertainment businesses, we provide connected vehicle services to several automakers. These services are designed to enhance the safety, security and driving experience of consumers. We also offer a suite of data services that includes graphical weather and fuel prices, a traffic information service and real-time weather services in boats and airplanes.
Pandora and Off-platform
Pandora offers a highly personalized audio entertainment platform allowing users to create customized stations and playlists while also enabling on-demand search and playback of songs and albums. The Pandora service leverages advanced content programming algorithms, listener data, and music attributes to predict user music preferences, play content suited to the tastes of each listener, and introduce each listener to music consistent with the consumer's preferences. The Pandora service is available as (1) an ad-supported radio service, (2) a radio subscription service (Pandora Plus) and (3) an on-demand subscription service (Pandora Premium).
The majority of revenue from Pandora is generated from advertising on Pandora's ad-supported radio service. Pandora also derives subscription revenue from its Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium subscribers. Our Pandora and Off-platform business also sells advertising on other audio platforms and in widely distributed podcasts, which we consider to be off-platform services. As of December 31, 2025, Pandora had approximately 41.1 million monthly active users and 5.6 million subscribers.
SiriusXM also sells advertising on other audio platforms and in widely-distributed podcasts, which it considers to be off-platform services. SiriusXM has an arrangement with SoundCloud Holdings, LLC ( “ SoundCloud ” ) to be its exclusive ad sales representative in the U.S. and certain European countries and offer advertisers the ability to execute campaigns across the Pandora and SoundCloud platforms. It also has arrangements to serve as the ad sales representative for certain podcasts. In addition, through AdsWizz Inc., SiriusXM provides a comprehensive digital audio and programmatic advertising technology platform, which connects audio publishers and advertisers with a variety of ad insertion, campaign trafficking, yield optimization, programmatic buying, marketplace and podcast monetization solutions.
The information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K represents a combination of the historical information of SplitCo (now renamed Sirius XM Holdings Inc.) prior to the Merger Effective Time and Old Sirius.
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Results of Operations - December 31, 2025 and 2024
Set forth below are our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared with the year ended December 31, 2024. Refer to our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on January 30, 2025 for our results of operation for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared with the year ended December 31, 2023. The results of operations are presented for each of our reporting segments for revenue and cost of services and on a consolidated basis for all other items.
For the Years Ended December 31,
2025 vs 2024 Change
(in millions)
Amount
Revenue
SiriusXM:
Subscriber revenue
Advertising revenue
Equipment revenue
Other revenue
Total SiriusXM revenue
Pandora and Off-platform:
Subscriber revenue
Advertising revenue
Total Pandora and Off-platform revenue
Total revenue
Cost of services
SiriusXM:
Revenue share and royalties
Programming and content
Customer service and billing
Transmission
Cost of equipment
Total SiriusXM cost of services
Pandora and Off-platform:
Revenue share and royalties
Programming and content
Customer service and billing
Transmission
Total Pandora and Off-platform cost of services
Total cost of services
Subscriber acquisition costs
Sales and marketing
Product and technology
General and administrative
Depreciation and amortization
Impairment, restructuring and other costs
Total operating expenses
Income (loss) from operations
Other income (expense), net
Interest expense
Gain on extinguishment of debt
Other income (expense), net
Total other expense
Income (loss) before income taxes
Income tax expense
Net income (loss)
nm - not meaningful
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SiriusXM Revenue
SiriusXM Subscriber Revenue includes fees charged for self-pay and paid promotional subscriptions, U.S. Music Royalty Fees and other ancillary fees.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, subscriber revenue was $5,960 and $6,076, respectively, a decrease of 2%, or $116. The decrease was primarily attributed to a reduction in self-pay revenue resulting from a decline in the average number of subscribers and an increase in self-pay subscribers on promotional plans, partially offset by rate increases on certain self-pay plans.
We expect SiriusXM subscriber revenues to remain relatively flat with higher average revenue per user (“ARPU”) offset by declines in the number of average subscribers.
SiriusXM Advertising Revenue includes the sale of advertising on SiriusXM’s non-music channels and select music channels within ad-supported plans.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, advertising revenue was $157 and $167, respectively, a decrease of 6%, or $10. The decrease was primarily due to lower advertising demand for news and sports channels.
We expect our SiriusXM advertising revenue to grow as we continue to leverage co-selling initiatives across our brands and platforms.
SiriusXM Equipment Revenue includes revenue and royalties from the sale of satellite radios, components and accessories.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, equipment revenue was $178 and $182, respectively, a decrease of 2%, or $4. The decrease was driven by the transition to higher cost next generation chipsets as well as lower chipset production.
We expect equipment revenue to decline due to higher costs associated with the transition to our next generation chipset.
SiriusXM Other Revenue includes service fee revenue from Sirius XM Canada, revenue from our connected vehicle services and ancillary revenues.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, other revenue was $122 and $128, respectively, a decrease of 5%, or $6. The decrease was driven by lower revenue from our connected vehicle services as well as lower royalty revenue from Sirius XM Canada.
We expect other revenue to remain relatively flat.
Pandora and Off-platform Revenue
Pandora and Off-platform Subscriber Revenue includes fees charged for Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, Pandora and Off-platform subscriber revenue was $526 and $540, respectively, a decrease of 3%, or $14. The decrease was driven by a decline in the subscriber base, partially offset by the full-year impact of prior year price increases on Pandora subscription plans.
We anticipate Pandora and Off-platform subscriber revenues to remain relatively flat.
Pandora and Off-platform Advertising Revenue is generated primarily from audio, display and video advertising from on-platform and off-platform advertising.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, Pandora and Off-platform advertising revenue was $1,615 and $1,606, respectively, an increase of 1%, or $9. The increase was driven by revenue generated from podcasts, programmatic and higher technology fees; partially offset by reduced advertiser demand in streaming music.
We expect Pandora and Off-platform advertising revenue to slightly increase due to growth in off-platform monetization, including through podcasts, as well as higher technology fees.
Total Revenue
Total Revenue for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024 was $8,558 and $8,699, respectively, a decrease of 2%, or $141.
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SiriusXM Cost of Services
SiriusXM Cost of Services includes revenue share and royalties, programming and content, customer service and billing, transmission and equipment expenses.
SiriusXM Revenue Share and Royalties include royalties for transmitting content, including streaming royalties, as well as revenue share agreements with automakers, content providers and advertisers.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, revenue share and royalties were $1,542 and $1,565, respectively, a decrease of 1%, or $23, but increased as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue. The decrease was driven by lower subscription revenue, partially offset by higher webcasting royalties.
We expect our SiriusXM revenue share and royalty costs to remain flat as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue.
SiriusXM Programming and Content includes costs to acquire, create, promote and produce content. We have entered into agreements with third parties for music and non-music programming that require us to pay license fees and other amounts.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, programming and content expenses were $555 and $550, respectively, an increase of 1%, or $5, and increased as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue. The increase was driven by higher personnel-related costs.
We expect our SiriusXM programming and content expenses to decline due to lower costs to obtain certain content.
SiriusXM Customer Service and Billing includes costs related to the operation and management of internal and third-party customer service centers, our subscriber management systems, billing and collection processes, bad debt expense, and transaction fees.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, customer service and billing expenses were $375 and $369, respectively, an increase of 2%, or $6, and increased as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue. The increase was driven by higher subscriber management system and transaction costs, partially offset by lower call center costs and bad debt expense.
We expect our SiriusXM customer service and billing expenses to decrease as a result of reductions in call center and personnel-related costs, partially offset by higher costs associated with subscriber management systems and transaction costs.
SiriusXM Transmission consists of costs associated with the operation and maintenance of our terrestrial repeater networks; satellites; satellite telemetry, tracking and control systems; satellite uplink facilities; studios and delivery of our Internet and 360L streaming and connected vehicle services.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, transmission expenses were $162 and $190, respectively, a decrease of 15%, or $28, and decreased as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue. The decrease was driven primarily by lower hosting costs associated with our streaming platform.
We expect our SiriusXM transmission expenses to remain relatively flat.
SiriusXM Cost of Equipment includes costs from the sale of satellite radios, components and accessories and provisions for inventory allowance attributable to products purchased for resale in our direct to consumer distribution channels.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, cost of equipment was $9 and $10, respectively, a decrease of 10%, or $1, and decreased as a percentage of total SiriusXM revenue. The decrease was driven by lower inventory reserves.
We expect our SiriusXM cost of equipment to decrease due to lower sales volumes.
Pandora and Off-platform Cost of Services
Pandora and Off-platform Cost of Services includes revenue share and royalties, programming and content, customer service and billing and transmission expenses.
Pandora and Off-platform Revenue Share and Royalties includes licensing fees paid for streaming music, podcast content, and revenue share paid to third party publishers. Payments are made based on advertising impressions delivered or click-through actions, and these costs are recorded in the related period.
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For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, revenue share and royalties were $1,308 and $1,270, respectively, an increase of 3%, or $38, and increased as a percentage of total Pandora and Off-platform revenue. The increase was driven by podcast revenue share, partially offset by a decline in the subscriber base.
We expect our Pandora and Off-platform revenue share and royalties to increase with the growth in our podcast revenue.
Pandora and Off-platform Programming and Content includes costs to produce owned and operated podcasts, live listener events and promote content.
For each of the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, programming and content expenses were $64 and $61, respectively, an increase of 5%, or $3, and increased as a percentage of total Pandora and Off-platform revenue. The increase was primarily attributable to higher podcast programming costs.
We expect our Pandora and Off-platform programming and content costs to remain relatively flat.
Pandora and Off-platform Customer Service and Billing includes transaction fees on subscription purchases through mobile app stores and bad debt expense.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, customer service and billing expenses were $74 and $79, respectively, a decrease of 6%, or $5, and decreased as a percentage of total Pandora and Off-platform revenue. The decrease was primarily driven by lower transaction fees.
We expect our Pandora and Off-platform customer service and billing costs to remain relatively flat.
Pandora and Off-platform Transmission includes costs associated with content streaming, maintaining our streaming radio and on-demand subscription services and creating and serving advertisements through third-party ad servers.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, Pandora and Off-Platform transmission expenses were $29 and $35, respectively, a decrease of 17%, or $6, and decreased as a percentage of total Pandora and Off-platform revenue. The decrease was driven by lower bandwidth costs.
We expect our Pandora and Off-platform transmission costs to decrease due to cost optimization efforts.
Operating Costs
Subscriber Acquisition Costs are costs associated with our satellite radio service. These include hardware subsidies paid to radio manufacturers, distributors and automakers; subsidies paid for chipsets and certain other components used in manufacturing radios; device royalties for certain radios and chipsets; product warranty obligations and freight. The majority of subscriber acquisition costs are incurred and expensed in advance of acquiring a subscriber. Subscriber acquisition costs do not include advertising costs, marketing, loyalty payments to distributors and dealers of satellite radios or revenue share payments to automakers and retailers of satellite radios.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, subscriber acquisition costs were $414 and $369, respectively, an increase of 12%, or $45, and increased as a percentage of total revenue. The increase was primarily driven by contractual changes with certain automakers and higher costs related to migrating to the wideband chipset.
We expect subscriber acquisition costs to stay relatively flat.
Sales and Marketing includes costs for marketing, advertising, media and production, including promotional events and sponsorships; cooperative and artist marketing; and personnel related costs including salaries, commissions, and sales support. Marketing costs include expenses related to direct mail, outbound telemarketing, email communications, social media, television and streaming performance media and third party promotional offers.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, sales and marketing expenses were $760 and $894, respectively, a decrease of 15%, or $134, and decreased as a percentage of total revenue. The decrease was primarily due to lower streaming marketing spend.
We expect sales and marketing expenses to increase due to an increase in our brand and other marketing costs.
Product and Technology consists primarily of compensation and related costs to develop chipsets and new products and services, including streaming and connected vehicle services, research and development for broadcast information systems and the design and development costs to incorporate SiriusXM radios into new vehicles manufactured by automakers.
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For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, product and technology expenses were $263 and $296, respectively, a decrease of 11%, or $33, and decreased as a percentage of total revenue. The decrease was primarily driven by lower personnel-related and hosting costs.
We anticipate product and technology expenses will remain relatively flat as we optimize our technology spend.
General and Administrative primarily consists of compensation and related costs for personnel and facilities, and includes costs related to our finance, legal, human resources and information technology departments.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, general and administrative expenses were $549 and $497, respectively, an increase of 10%, or $52, and increased as a percentage of total revenue. The increase was driven by higher legal costs, including amounts associated with a settlement reserve for certain litigation matters of $29 which is expected to be paid in 2026, higher personnel-related costs and lower insurance recoveries; partially offset by the elimination of Former Parent operating costs, legal settlement income recognized during 2025, and certain state tax litigation recoveries recorded.
We expect our general and administrative expenses, excluding the impact of any past or future litigation insurance recoveries and settlement reserves, to decline due to lower technology and rent costs.
Depreciation and Amortization reflects the allocation of the costs of assets used in operations such as our satellite constellations, property, equipment and intangible assets over their estimated service lives.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, depreciation and amortization expense was $547 and $578, respectively. The decrease was primarily associated with certain assets that reached the end of their useful lives.
Impairment, Restructuring and Other Costs represents impairment charges associated with the carrying amount of an asset exceeding the asset's fair value, restructuring expenses associated with contract terminations, the abandonment of certain leased office spaces as well as employee severance charges and other charges associated with organizational changes in connection with the Transactions.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, impairment, restructuring and other costs were $436 and $3,453, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we recorded charges of $296 associated with restructuring charges, a charge of $109 associated with impairments related to terminated software projects, severance and other employee costs of $23 and Transaction related costs of $8. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recorded impairment charges of $3,355 primarily related to impairments of Goodwill and equity method investments, Transactions related costs of $71, and a charge of $27 associated with severance and other restructuring costs.
Other (Expense) Income
Interest Expense represents the cost of interest on outstanding debt.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, interest expense was $459 and $496, respectively. The decrease was primarily driven by a lower average outstanding debt balance.
Other Income, Net primarily includes realized and unrealized gains and losses from our debt measured at fair value, bond hedges, our Deferred Compensation Plan and other investments, intergroup interests, interest and dividend income, our share of the income or loss from equity investments and transaction costs related to non-operating investments.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, other income, net was $44 and $136, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we recorded unrealized gains on debt measured at fair value, trading gains associated with the investments held for our Deferred Compensation Plan and earnings on unconsolidated entity investments. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we recorded unrealized gains on debt measured at fair value, earnings on unconsolidated entity investments and trading gains associated with the investments held for our Deferred Compensation Plan.
Income Taxes
Income Tax Expense includes the change in our deferred tax assets, current federal and state tax expenses and foreign withholding taxes.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, income tax expense was $251 and $210, respectively.
Our effective tax rate of 23.8% for the year ended December 31, 2025 was primarily driven by state and local taxes and tax losses related to share-based compensation, partially offset by certain credits. Our effective tax rate of (11.3)% for the year
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ended December 31, 2024, was primarily driven by federal and state income tax expense, offset by the nondeductible impairment of goodwill.
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Key Financial and Operating Performance Metrics
In this section, we present certain financial performance measures, some of which are presented as Non-GAAP items, which include free cash flow and adjusted EBITDA. We also present certain operating performance measures. Our adjusted EBITDA excludes the impact of share-based payment expense. Additionally, when applicable, our adjusted EBITDA metric excludes the effect of significant items that do not relate to the on-going performance of our business. We use these Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures to manage our business, to set operational goals and as a basis for determining performance-based compensation for our employees. See the accompanying Glossary for more details and for the reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure (where applicable).
We believe these Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and results of operations. We believe these Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures may be useful to investors in evaluating our core trends because they provide a more direct view of our underlying costs. We believe investors may use our adjusted EBITDA to estimate our current enterprise value and to make investment decisions. We believe free cash flow provides useful supplemental information to investors regarding our cash available for future subscriber acquisitions and capital expenditures, to repurchase or retire debt, to acquire other companies and our ability to return capital to stockholders. By providing these Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures, together with the reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure (where applicable), we believe we are enhancing investors' understanding of our business and our results of operations.
Our Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for or superior to, our reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, our Non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures by other companies. Please refer to the Glossary for a further discussion of such Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure (where applicable). Subscribers and subscription related revenues and expenses associated with our connected vehicle services and Sirius XM Canada are not included in SiriusXM’s subscriber count or subscriber-based operating metrics. Subscribers to the Cloud Cover music programming service are now included in Pandora's subscriber count.
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Set forth below are our subscriber balances as of December 31, 2025 compared to December 31, 2024. Refer to our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the SEC on January 30, 2025 for our Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared with the year ended December 31, 2023.
As of December 31,
2025 vs 2024 Change
(subscribers in thousands)
Amount
SiriusXM
Self-pay subscribers
Paid promotional subscribers
Ending subscribers
Sirius XM Canada subscribers
Pandora and Off-platform
Monthly active users - all services
Self-pay subscribers
The following table contains our Non-GAAP financial and operating performance measures which are based on our adjusted results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024.
For the Years Ended December 31,
2025 vs 2024 Change
Twelve Months
(subscribers in thousands)
Amount
SiriusXM
Self-pay subscribers
Paid promotional subscribers
Net additions
Weighted average number of subscribers
Average self-pay monthly churn
ARPU (1)
SAC, per installation
Pandora and Off-platform
Weighted average number of subscribers
Ad supported listener hours (in billions)
Advertising revenue per thousand listener hours (RPM)
Total Company
Adjusted EBITDA
Free cash flow
(1) ARPU for SiriusXM excludes subscriber revenue from our connected vehicle services of $169 and $164 for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
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SiriusXM
Subscribers. At December 31, 2025, SiriusXM had 32,927 subscribers, a decrease of 299, from the 33,226 subscribers as of December 31, 2024. Our subscriber base declined primarily due to lower self-pay subscribers attributable to lower vehicle conversion rates, partially offset by reductions in voluntary and non-pay churn as well as growth in new acquisition initiatives.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, net subscriber additions were (299) and (649), respectively, an improvement of 350. Self-pay net additions decreased primarily due to lower streaming net additions and conversion rates, partially offset by lower churn, growth in new acquisition initiatives as well as the implementation in the fourth quarter of continuous service practices for subscribers and the offer of companion subscriptions to subscribers. Paid promotional net additions also improved compared to the prior year periods driven by higher vehicle sales.
Sirius XM Canada Subscribers. At December 31, 2025, Sirius XM Canada had approximately 2,437 subscribers, a decrease of 79, or 3%, from the approximately 2,516 Sirius XM Canada subscribers as of December 31, 2024.
Average Self-pay Monthly Churn is derived by dividing the monthly average of self-pay deactivations for the period by the average number of self-pay subscribers for the period. (See accompanying Glossary for more details.)
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, our average self-pay monthly churn rate was 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively. The decrease was driven by lower vehicle and non-pay churn.
ARPU is derived from total earned SiriusXM subscriber revenue (excluding revenue derived from our connected vehicle services) and net advertising revenue, divided by the number of months in the period, divided by the daily weighted average number of subscribers for the period. (See the accompanying Glossary for more details.)
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, ARPU was $15.11 and $15.21, respectively. The decrease was driven by an increase in self-pay subscribers on promotional plans, partially offset by rate increases on certain self-pay plans.
SAC, Per Installation, is derived from subscriber acquisition costs and margins from the sale of radios, components and accessories (excluding connected vehicle services), divided by the number of satellite radio installations in new vehicles and shipments of aftermarket radios for the period. (See the accompanying Glossary for more details.)
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, SAC, per installation, was $18.21 and $14.55, respectively. The increase was driven by a transition to higher cost chipsets as well as contractual changes with certain automakers.
Pandora and Off-platform
Monthly Active Users. At December 31, 2025, Pandora had approximately 41,112 monthly active users, a decrease of 2,232 monthly active users, or 5%, from the 43,344 monthly active users as of December 31, 2024. The decrease in monthly active users was driven by churn and a decline in the number of new users.
Subscribers. At December 31, 2025, Pandora had approximately 5,630 subscribers, a decrease of 144, or 2%, from the approximately 5,774 subscribers as of December 31, 2024.
Ad supported listener hours are a key indicator of our Pandora business and the engagement of our Pandora listeners. We include ad supported listener hours related to Pandora's non-music content offerings in the definition of listener hours.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, ad supported listener hours were 9,751 and 9,940, respectively, a decrease of 2%, or 189. The decrease was primarily driven by the decline in monthly active users, partially offset by higher hours per active user.
RPM is a key indicator of our ability to monetize advertising inventory created by listener hours on the Pandora services. Ad RPM is calculated by dividing advertising revenue by the number of thousands of listener hours of our Pandora advertising-based service.
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, RPM was $91.78 and $100.59, respectively. The decrease was driven by lower advertiser demand in streaming music due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
Total Company
Adjusted EBITDA. EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA excludes the impact of other expense (income), loss on extinguishment of debt,
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impairment, restructuring and other costs, Former Parent operating costs, other non-cash charges such as share-based payment expense, and legal settlements and reserves (if applicable). (See the accompanying Glossary for a reconciliation to GAAP and for more details.)
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, adjusted EBITDA was $2,665 and $2,732, respectively, a decrease of 2%, or $67. The decrease was driven by declines in subscriber revenue as well as increases in general and administrative expenses and subscriber acquisition costs; partially offset by lower sales and marketing, product and technology, and transmission expenses.
Free Cash Flow includes cash provided by operations, net of additions to property and equipment, and restricted and other investment activity. (See the accompanying Glossary for a reconciliation to GAAP and for more details.)
For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, free cash flow was $1,256 and $1,015, respectively, an increase of 24%, or $241. The increase was driven by the elimination of Liberty transaction costs, lower cash taxes paid and lower capital expenditures.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The following table presents a summary of our cash flow activity for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared with the year ended December 31, 2024. Refer to our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 filed with the SEC on January 30, 2025 for our cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared with the year ended December 31, 2023.
For the Years Ended December 31,
(in millions)
Net cash provided by operating activities
Net cash used in investing activities
Net cash used in financing activities
Net decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period
Cash Flows Provided by Operating Activities
Cash flows provided by operating activities increased by $157 to $1,898 for the year ended December 31, 2025 from $1,741 for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Our largest source of cash provided by operating activities is cash generated by subscription and subscription-related revenues. We also generate cash from the sale of advertising through the Pandora and Off-platform business, advertising on certain non-music and select music channels on SiriusXM and the sale of satellite radios, components and accessories. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities include revenue share and royalty payments to distributors, programming and content providers and payments to radio manufacturers, distributors and automakers. In addition, uses of cash from operating activities include payments to vendors to service, maintain and acquire listeners and subscribers, general corporate expenditures and compensation and related costs.
Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities
Cash flows used in investing activities in the year ended December 31, 2025 were primarily due to spending for capitalized software and hardware, the construction of satellites and acquisitions of tax-effective investments for total cash consideration of $106. Cash flows used in investing activities in the year ended December 31, 2024 were primarily due to spending for capitalized software and hardware, the construction of satellites and acquisitions of tax-effective investments for total cash consideration of $244. We spent $389 and $413 on capitalized software and hardware as well as $204 and $262 to construct satellites during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Cash Flows Used in Financing Activities
Cash flows used in financing activities consists of the issuance and repayment of long-term debt, purchases of our common stock, the payment of cash dividends and taxes paid in lieu of shares issued for stock-based compensation. Proceeds from long-term debt have been used to fund our operations, construct and launch new satellites, fund acquisitions, invest in other infrastructure improvements and purchase shares of our common stock.
Cash flows used in financing activities in the year ended December 31, 2025 were primarily due to the repayment of $2,141 of debt, the payment of cash dividends of $365, the purchase and retirement of shares of our common stock under our
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repurchase program of $136 and the payment of $33 for taxes in lieu of shares issued for share-based compensation, partially offset by proceeds from debt borrowings of $1,462. Long-term debt proceeds and repayments are reported gross within the statement of cash flows and primarily relate to the Delayed Draw Incremental Term Loan and the Credit Facility.
Cash flows used in financing activities in the year ended December 31, 2024 were primarily due to the repayment of $3,914 of debt, the payment of cash dividends of $143 and the payment of $44 for taxes in lieu of shares issued for share-based compensation, partially offset by proceeds from debt borrowings of $3,205. Long-term debt proceeds and repayments are reported gross within the statement of cash flows and primarily relate to the Convertible Notes, the Exchangeable Notes, that certain margin loan agreement (which is no longer outstanding) of Liberty Siri MarginCo, LLC which merged with and into SplitCo following the Transactions that was secured by shares of our common stock (the “Margin Loan”) and the Credit Facility (as defined in Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K).
Future Liquidity and Capital Resource Requirements
Based upon our current business plans, we expect to fund operating expenses, capital expenditures, including the construction of replacement satellites, working capital requirements, interest payments, taxes and scheduled maturities of our debt with existing cash, cash flow from operations and borrowings under the Credit Facility, including the Delayed Draw Incremental Term Loan. As of December 31, 2025, $1,980 was available for future borrowing under the Credit Facility and no amount was available under the Delayed Draw Incremental Term Loan. We believe that we have sufficient cash and cash equivalents, as well as debt capacity, to cover our estimated short and long-term funding needs, including upcoming maturities of debt, amounts to construct, launch and insure replacement satellites, as well as fund future stock repurchases and dividend payments and to pursue strategic opportunities.
Our ability to meet our debt and other obligations depends on our future operating performance and on economic, financial, competitive and other factors.
We regularly evaluate our business plans and strategy. These evaluations often result in changes to our business plans and strategy, some of which may be material and significantly change our cash requirements. These changes in our business plans or strategy may include: the acquisition of unique or compelling programming; the development and introduction of new features or services; significant new or enhanced distribution arrangements; investments in infrastructure, such as satellites, equipment or radio spectrum and acquisitions and investments, including acquisitions and investments that are not directly related to our existing business.
We may from time to time purchase our outstanding debt through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. Purchases or retirement of debt, if any, will depend on prevailing market conditions, liquidity requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors. The amounts involved may be material.
W e have made, and expect to continue to make, certain tax-efficient equity investments in clean energy technologies, including industrial carbon capture and storage. These investments are expected to produce tax credits and related tax losses. The payments on these equity investments will be classified as investing activities from a cash flow perspective, while the tax credits and losses will benefit our federal cash taxes in operating activities.
Stock Repurchase Program
Following the closing of the Transactions, on September 9, 2024, our board of directors authorized for repurchase an aggregate of $1,166 of our common stock. The board of directors did not establish an end date for this stock repurchase program. Shares of common stock may be purchased from time to time on the open market, pursuant to pre-set trading plans meeting the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act, in privately negotiated transactions, including in accelerated stock repurchase transactions, or otherwise. We intend to fund any stock repurchases through a combination of cash on hand, cash generated by operations and future borrowings. The size and timing of any purchases will be based on a number of factors, including price and business and market conditions. As of December 31, 2025, our cumulative repurchases since the closing of the Transactions under our stock repurchase program totaled 6,538 thousand shares for $143, and $1,024 remained available for additional repurchases under our existing stock repurchase program authorization.
Dividend
On January 29, 2026, our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend on our common stock in the amount of $0.27 per share of common stock payable on February 27, 2026 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 11, 2026.
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Debt Covenants
The indentures governing SiriusXM's senior notes and the credit agreement governing the Credit Facility and the Delayed Draw Incremental Term Loan include restrictive covenants. The indentures governing the senior notes also contain covenants that, among other things, limit Sirius XM’s ability and the ability of its subsidiaries to create certain liens; enter into sale/leaseback transactions; and merge or consolidate or transfer, lease, assign or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of Sirius XM Radio LLC’s assets. As of December 31, 2025, we were in compliance with such covenants. For a discussion of our “Debt Covenants,” refer to Note 12 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any significant off-balance sheet arrangements other than those disclosed in Note 15 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.
Contractual Cash Commitments
For a discussion of our “Contractual Cash Commitments,” refer to Note 15 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Related Party Transactions
For a discussion of “Related Party Transactions,” refer to Note 11 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our audited consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP, which requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the periods. Accounting estimates require the use of significant management assumptions and judgments as to future events, and the effect of those events cannot be predicted with certainty. The accounting estimates will change as new events occur, more experience is acquired and more information is obtained. We evaluate and update our assumptions and estimates on an ongoing basis and use outside experts to assist in that evaluation when we deem necessary. We have identified all significant accounting policies in Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Non-Financial Instrument Valuations. Our non-financial instrument valuations are primarily comprised of our determination of the estimated fair value allocation of net tangible and identifiable intangible assets acquired in business combinations, our annual assessment of the recoverability of our goodwill and other nonamortizable intangible assets, such as trademarks, and our evaluation of the recoverability of our other long-lived assets upon certain triggering events. If the carrying value of our long-lived assets exceeds their estimated fair value, we are required to write the carrying value down to fair value. Any such writedown is included in Impairment, restructuring and other costs in our audited consolidated statement of operations. Judgment is required to estimate the fair value of our long-lived assets. We may use quoted market prices, prices for similar assets, present value techniques and other valuation techniques to prepare these estimates. We may need to make estimates of future cash flows and discount rates as well as other assumptions in order to implement these valuation techniques. Due to the degree of judgment involved in our estimation techniques, any value ultimately derived from our long-lived assets may differ from our estimate of fair value. As each of our operating segments has long-lived assets, this critical accounting policy affects the financial position and results of operations of each segment. Our intangible assets include goodwill, other indefinite-lived assets (our FCC licenses and trademarks) and definite-lived assets. Our annual impairment assessment of our goodwill and our indefinite-lived assets is performed as of the fourth quarter of each year. We also review our intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset is not recoverable. If an impairment exists, the impairment is measured as the amount by which the carrying amount of an intangible asset exceeds its estimated fair value.
• Goodwill: ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other , states that an entity should perform its annual or interim goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount and recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value. Under the updated guidance per Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment , the requirements for any reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying
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amount to perform a qualitative assessment is eliminated. In accordance with updated guidance, we recognize goodwill impairment as the difference between the carrying amount of a reporting unit and its fair value, but not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. The accounting guidance permits entities to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount as a basis for determining whether it is necessary to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test. The accounting guidance also allows entities the option to bypass the qualitative assessment for any reporting unit in any period and proceed directly to the quantitative impairment test. The entity may resume performing the qualitative assessment in any subsequent period. In evaluating goodwill on a qualitative basis, the Company reviews the business performance of each reporting unit and evaluates other relevant factors as identified in the relevant accounting guidance to determine whether it is more likely than not that an indicated impairment exists for any of our reporting units.
We elected to perform a quantitative assessment of the goodwill in our Pandora and Off-platform reporting unit and performed a qualitative assessment of the goodwill in our SiriusXM reporting unit. Fair value of our Pandora and Off-platform reporting unit was determined using a combination of an income approach, using a discounted cash flow (“DCF”) model, and a market approach, employing a guideline public company approach. The DCF model, which estimates fair value based on the present value of future cash flows, requires us to make various assumptions regarding the timing and amount of these cash flows, including growth rates, operating margins and capital expenditures for a projection period, plus the terminal value of the business at the end of the projection period. The terminal value is estimated using a long-term growth rate, which is based on expected trends and projections. A discount rate is determined for the reporting unit based on the risks of achieving the future cash flows, including risks applicable to the industry and market as a whole, as well as the capital structure of comparable entities. Additionally, assumptions related to guideline company financial multiples used in the market approach are based on current market observations.
• Indefinite-lived Assets: ASC 350-30-35, Intangibles - General Intangibles Other than Goodwill , provides for an option to first perform a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that an asset is impaired. If the qualitative assessment supports that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the asset exceeds its carrying value, a company is not required to perform a quantitative impairment test. If the qualitative assessment does not support that the fair value of the asset exceeds its carrying value, then a quantitative assessment is performed. We recognize impairment as the difference between the carrying amount of an asset and its estimated fair value.
Our annual impairment assessment of our identifiable indefinite lived intangible assets is performed as of the fourth quarter of each year. An assessment is performed at other times if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the asset below its carrying value. If the carrying value of the intangible assets exceeds its fair value, an impairmentloss is recognized in an amount equal to that excess. Fair value of the Pandora trade name was determined using a DCF model. The DCF model included significant assumptions about revenue growth rates, royalty rate, long-term growth rates and enterprise specific discount rates.
• Definite-lived Assets: We carry our definite-lived assets at cost less accumulated amortization. We assess definite-lived assets for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that its carrying amount may not be recoverable. If an event or circumstance is identified indicating the carrying value may not be recoverable, the sum of future undiscounted cash flows is compared to the carrying value. If the carrying value exceeds the future undiscounted cash flows, the carrying value of the asset is reduced to its fair value. The fair value of assets is determined as either the expected selling price less selling costs (where appropriate) or the present value of the estimated future cash flows, adjusted as necessary for market factors.
Useful Life of Broadcast/Transmission System. Our satellite system includes the costs of our satellite construction, launch vehicles, launch insurance, capitalized interest, spare satellites, terrestrial repeater network and satellite uplink facilities. We monitor our satellites for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the asset is not recoverable.
We currently operate four in-orbit and two spare satellites, FM-5, FM-6, XM-5, SXM-8, SXM-9, and SXM-10. Our FM-5 satellite was launched in 2009 and reached the end of its depreciable life in 2024. Our FM-6 satellite was launched in 2013 and is expected to reach the end of its depreciable life in 2028. Our XM-5 satellite was launched in 2010 and reached the end of its depreciable life in 2025. Our SXM-8 satellite was launched in 2021 and is expected to reach the end of its depreciable life in 2036. Our SXM-8 satellite replaced our XM-3 satellite which was successfully deorbited in November 2025. In January 2025, our SXM-9 satellite successfully completed in-orbit testing and replaced our SXM-8 satellite which now operates as an in-orbit spare. In July 2025, our SXM-10 satellite successfully completed its in-orbit testing and replaced our FM-6 satellite which now operates as an in-orbit spare. We have entered into agreements for the design, construction and launch of two additional satellites, SXM-11 and SXM-12, which are expected to replace our XM-5 and Sirius FM-5 satellites.
Our satellites have been designed to last fifteen years. Our in-orbit satellites may experience component failures which could adversely affect their useful lives. We monitor the operating condition of our in-orbit satellites and if events or
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circumstances indicate that the depreciable lives of our in-orbit satellites have changed, we will modify the depreciable life accordingly. If we were to revise our estimates, our depreciation expense would change.
Income Taxes. Deferred income taxes are recognized for the tax consequences related to temporary differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities for financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for tax purposes, based on enacted tax laws and statutory tax rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income.
We assess the recoverability of deferred tax assets at each reporting date and, where applicable, a valuation allowance is recognized when, based on the weight of all available evidence, it is considered more likely than not that all, or some portion, of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Our assessment includes an analysis of whether deferred tax assets will be realized in the ordinary course of operations based on the available positive and negative evidence, including the scheduling of deferred tax liabilities and forecasted income from operations. The underlying assumptions we use in forecasting future taxable income require significant judgment. In the event that actual income from operations differs from forecasted amounts, or if we change our estimates of forecasted income from operations, we could record additional charges or reduce allowances in order to adjust the carrying value of deferred tax assets to their realizable amount. Such adjustments could be material to our audited consolidated financial statements.
As of December 31, 2025, we had a valuation allowance of $87 relating to deferred tax assets that are not more likely than not to be realized due to the timing of certain state net operating losslimitations and acquired net operating losses that were not likely to be utilized.
ASC 740, Income Taxes , requires a company to first determine whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained based on its technical merits as of the reporting date, assuming that taxing authorities will examine the position and have full knowledge of all relevant information. A tax position that meets this more likely than not threshold is then measured and recognized at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than fifty percent likely to be realized upon effective settlement with a taxing authority. If the tax position is not more likely than not to be sustained, the gross amount of the unrecognized tax position will not be recorded in the financial statements but will be shown in tabular format within the uncertain income tax positions. Changes in recognition or measurement are reflected in the period in which the change in judgment occurs due to the following conditions: (1) the tax position is “more likely than not” to be sustained, (2) the tax position, amount, and/or timing is ultimately settled through negotiation or litigation, or (3) the statute of limitations for the tax position has expired. A number of years may elapse before an uncertain tax position is effectively settled or until there is a lapse in the applicable statute of limitations. We record interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions in Income tax expense in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. As of December 31, 2025, the gross liability for income taxes associated with uncertain tax positions was $198.
Glossary
Self-pay subscriber - a self-pay subscriber is a user that, as of the date of determination, was party to a customer agreement with SiriusXM or Pandora, and (i) has paid or agreed to pay a subscription fee, including at a promotional price, or (ii) the subscription fee has been paid by an automaker for a period of three years or greater. For subscription plans that entitle the customer to multiple registered users, each registered user under such plan is counted as a self-pay subscriber. Lifetime subscribers to the SiriusXM service are counted as self-pay subscribers because they are party to a customer agreement with SiriusXM and have paid a subscription fee, although in almost all cases the revenue from such subscriptions have been fully recognized in prior periods. Our new continuous service practices allow for subscribers to keep their subscription active even when it is not linked to a vehicle. Certain users that are party to a customer agreement with SiriusXM or Pandora and have paid or agreed to pay a small promotional price for a trial subscription are not counted as self-pay subscribers because the promotional price is considered to be de minimis and, in management's view, the payment is not indicative of the user’s intent to subscribe to the service in the near-term.
Paid promotional subscriber - a paid promotional subscriber is a user that, as of the date of determination, has their subscription fee paid for by a third party, for a fixed trial subscription period, which typically range from one to twelve months but is less than three years. We count prepaid shipped but not activated vehicles as paid promotional subscribers.
Monthly active users - the number of distinct registered users on the Pandora services, including subscribers, which have consumed content within the trailing 30 days to the end of the final calendar month of the period. The number of monthly active users on the Pandora services may overstate the number of unique individuals who actively use our Pandora service, as one individual may use multiple accounts. To become a registered user on the Pandora services, a person must sign-up using an email address or access our service using a device with a unique identifier, which we use to create an account for our service.
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Average self-pay monthly churn - for in-car and retail radio subscriptions, the SiriusXM monthly average of self-pay deactivations for the period divided by the average number of self-pay subscribers for the period.
Adjusted EBITDA - EBITDA is defined as net income (loss) before interest expense, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is a Non-GAAP financial measure that excludes or adjusts for the impact of other expense (income), gain/loss on extinguishment of debt, impairment, restructuring and other costs, Former Parent operating costs, other non-cash charges such as share-based payment expense and legal settlements and reserves (if applicable). We believe adjusted EBITDA is a useful measure of the underlying trend of our operating performance, which provides useful information about our business apart from the costs associated with our capital structure and purchase price accounting. We believe investors find this Non-GAAP financial measure useful when analyzing our past operating performance with our current performance and comparing our operating performance to the performance of other communications, entertainment and media companies. We believe investors use adjusted EBITDA to estimate our current enterprise value and to make investment decisions. As a result of large capital investments in our satellite radio system, our results of operations reflect significant charges for depreciation expense. We believe the exclusion of share-based payment expense is useful as it is not directly related to the operational conditions of our business. We also believe the exclusion of the legal settlements and reserves, impairment, restructuring and other costs, to the extent they occur during the period, is useful as they are significant expenses not incurred as part of our normal operations for the period.
Adjusted EBITDA has certain limitations in that it does not take into account the impact to our consolidated statements of comprehensive income of certain expenses, including share-based payment expense. We endeavor to compensate for the limitations of the Non-GAAP measure presented by also providing the comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence and descriptions of the reconciling items, including quantifying such items, to derive the Non-GAAP measure. Investors that wish to compare and evaluate our operating results after giving effect for these costs should refer to net income as disclosed in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. Since adjusted EBITDA is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure, our calculation of adjusted EBITDA may be susceptible to varying calculations; may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and should not be considered in isolation, as a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. The reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted EBITDA is calculated as follows:
For the Years Ended December 31,
Net income (loss):
Add back items excluded from Adjusted EBITDA:
Legal settlements and reserves
Former Parent operating costs
Impairment, restructuring and other costs
Share-based payment expense (1)
Depreciation and amortization
Interest expense
Gain on extinguishment of debt
Other income, net
Income tax expense
Adjusted EBITDA
(1) Allocation of share-based payment expense:
For the Years Ended December 31,
Programming and content
Customer service and billing
Transmission
Sales and marketing
Product and technology
General and administrative
Total share-based payment expense
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Free cash flow - is derived from cash flow provided by operating activities, net of additions to property and equipment and purchases of other investments. Free cash flow is a metric that our management and board of directors use to evaluate the cash generated by our operations, net of capital expenditures and other investment activity. In a capital intensive business, with significant investments in satellites, we look at our operating cash flow, net of these investing cash outflows, to determine cash available for future subscriber acquisition and capital expenditures, to repurchase or retire debt, to acquire other companies and to evaluate our ability to return capital to stockholders. We exclude from free cash flow certain items that do not relate to the on-going performance of our business, such as cash flows related to acquisitions, strategic and short-term investments, including tax efficient investments in clean energy as well as net loan activity with related parties and other equity investees. We believe free cash flow is an indicator of the long-term financial stability of our business. Free cash flow, which is reconciled to “Net cash provided by operating activities”, is a Non-GAAP financial measure. This measure can be calculated by deducting amounts under the captions “Additions to property and equipment” and deducting or adding Restricted and other investment activity from “Net cash provided by operating activities” from the consolidated statements of cash flows. Free cash flow should be used in conjunction with other GAAP financial performance measures and may not be comparable to free cash flow measures presented by other companies. Free cash flow should be viewed as a supplemental measure rather than an alternative measure of cash flows from operating activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. Free cash flow is limited and does not represent remaining cash flows available for discretionary expenditures due to the fact that the measure does not deduct the payments required for debt maturities. We believe free cash flow provides useful supplemental information to investors regarding our current cash flow, along with other GAAP measures (such as cash flows from operating and investing activities), to determine our financial condition and to compare our operating performance to other communications, entertainment and media companies. Free cash flow is calculated as follows:
For the Years Ended December 31,
Cash Flow information
Net cash provided by operating activities
Net cash used in investing activities
Net cash used in financing activities
Free Cash Flow
Net cash provided by operating activities
Additions to property and equipment
Sales of other investments
Free cash flow
ARPU - SiriusXM ARPU is derived from total earned subscriber revenue (excluding revenue associated with our connected vehicle services) and advertising revenue, divided by the number of months in the period, divided by the daily weighted average number of subscribers for the period.
Subscriber acquisition cost, per installation - or SAC, per installation, is derived from subscriber acquisition costs less margins from the sale of radios and accessories (excluding connected vehicle services), divided by the number of satellite radio installations in new vehicles and shipments of aftermarket radios for the period. SAC, per installation, is calculated as follows:
Less: margin from sales of radios and accessories, excluding connected vehicle services
Installations (in thousands)
SAC, per installation (a)
(a) Amounts may not recalculate due to rounding.
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Ad supported listener hours - is based on the total bytes served over our Pandora advertising supported platforms for each track that is requested and served from our Pandora servers, as measured by our internal analytics systems, whether or not a listener listens to the entire track. For non-music content such as podcasts, episodes are divided into approximately track-length parts, which are treated as tracks. To the extent that third-party measurements of advertising hours are not calculated using a similar server-based approach, the third-party measurements may differ from our measurements.
RPM - is calculated by dividing advertising revenue, excluding AdsWizz and other off-platform revenue, by the number of thousands of listener hours on our Pandora advertising-based service.
