New York, April 30, 2026, 15:04 EDT
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. stock nudged up 0.9% to $27.01 at 15:02 EDT Thursday, after the audio firm reported a smaller-than-expected drop in paying satellite-radio users for the first quarter. The company reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, handing investors a steadier-than-anticipated update as it works to stabilize its main subscriber base.
The timing isn’t a coincidence. The report dropped just days after Reuters, citing Bloomberg News, said iHeartMedia Inc. was in early-stage merger discussions with SiriusXM—a potential deal spotlighting scale, podcast ad revenue, and the staying power of subscription money. When asked by Reuters, both sides declined to comment.
Investors now face a short-term gauge of SiriusXM’s efforts to move past the car radio. The company is banking on podcasts, live shows, and ad deals to make up for tepid subscriber numbers. SiriusXM reported a 37% jump in podcast revenue year over year and pointed to its YouTube audio ad partnership, which should push its potential reach to around 255 million monthly listeners starting this fall.
For the quarter that closed March 31, revenue edged up 1% to $2.09 billion. Net income climbed 20% to $245 million, with diluted EPS moving up to 72 cents from last year’s 59 cents, according to the company.
Adjusted EBITDA climbed 6%, hitting $666 million. That metric leaves out interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and a handful of other items. Free cash flow came in at $171 million, a jump from $56 million a year ago, reflecting cash from operations after capital outlays and other investments.
Subscribers ended up being the bright spot. SiriusXM shed 111,000 self-pay users—these are people who actually pay or commit to paying, not just trial listeners. Analysts had braced for a much bigger loss of 260,463, according to Visible Alpha data cited by Reuters.
SiriusXM wrapped up the quarter at roughly 32.8 million subscribers, slipping from 32.9 million a year ago. The churn rate edged down to 1.5% versus last year’s 1.6%. Average revenue per user hit $14.99, up from $14.86, helped by higher prices on select self-pay plans.
Chief Executive Jennifer Witz said the company is “off to a strong start in 2026,” highlighting improved net subscriber additions, a bump in ARPU, and reduced first-quarter churn. Chief Financial Officer Zac Coughlin flagged “top-line growth, expanding margins,” adding that efforts to bring down leverage—debt relative to adjusted EBITDA—remain in focus. Fast Edgar Archive
Pandora and off-platform results were less straightforward. Revenue edged up 3% to $501 million, supported by a 5% bump in ad revenue to $372 million. Still, the company flagged weaker demand for streaming music, and monthly active users dropped to 40.1 million from 42.4 million.
The quarter left the core challenges in place. SiriusXM reported another drop in its subscriber numbers, blaming softer vehicle conversion rates despite some improvement in both vehicle-related and non-pay churn. Over at Pandora, ad-supported listener hours slipped 6%, and revenue per thousand listener hours dipped 4%. The filing attributed that slide to weaker demand as competition for digital ad spending intensified.
SiriusXM stuck to its full-year 2026 targets: roughly $8.5 billion in revenue, $2.6 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $1.35 billion in free cash flow. For the recent quarter, the company reported $91 million paid out in dividends and $22 million spent on share buybacks. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA stood at 3.6x at the end of March.
