Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related Party Transactions

v2.4.0.8
Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
Related Party Transactions

We had the following related party balances at December 31, 2013 and 2012:
 
Related party current assets
 
Related party long-term assets
 
Related party current liabilities
 
Related party long-term liabilities
 
Related party debt
 
2013
 
2012
 
2013
 
2012
 
2013
 
2012
 
2013
 
2012
 
2013
 
2012
Liberty Media
$
278

 
$

 
$

 
$
757

 
$
15,766

 
$
3,980

 
$

 
$

 
$
10,959

 
$
208,906

Sirius XM Canada
8,867

 
13,167

 
27,619

 
44,197

 
4,554

 
2,776

 
16,337

 
18,966

 

 

M-Way

 

 
2,545

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total
$
9,145

 
$
13,167

 
$
30,164

 
$
44,954

 
$
20,320

 
$
6,756

 
$
16,337

 
$
18,966

 
$
10,959

 
$
208,906


Liberty Media

In February and March 2009, we entered into several transactions to borrow up to $530,000 from Liberty Media Corporation and its affiliates. All of these loans were repaid in 2009.

As part of the transactions with Liberty Media, in February 2009, we entered into an investment agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with Liberty Radio, LLC, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media. Pursuant to the Investment Agreement, we issued to Liberty Radio, LLC 12,500,000 shares of our Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B-1 (the “Series B Preferred Stock”) with a liquidation preference of $0.001 per share in partial consideration for the loan investments. The Series B Preferred Stock was convertible into approximately 40% of our outstanding shares of common stock (after giving effect to such conversion).

In September 2012, Liberty Radio, LLC converted 6,249,900 shares of the Series B Preferred Stock into 1,293,467,684 shares of our common stock. In January 2013, the Federal Communications Commission granted Liberty Media approval to acquire de jure control of us, and Liberty Radio, LLC converted its remaining Series B Preferred Stock into 1,293,509,076 shares of our common stock. In addition, Liberty Media, indirectly through its subsidiaries, purchased an additional 50,000,000 shares of our common stock. As a result of these conversions of Series B Preferred Stock and additional purchases of shares of our common stock, Liberty Media beneficially owned, directly and indirectly, over 50% of our outstanding common stock as of December 31, 2013.

Two current Liberty Media executives and one Liberty Media director are members of our board of directors. Gregory B. Maffei, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Media, is the Chairman of our board of directors.

On October 9, 2013, we entered into an agreement with Liberty Media to repurchase $500,000 of our common stock from Liberty Media. Pursuant to that agreement with Liberty Media, we repurchased $160,000 of our common stock from Liberty Media as of December 31, 2013. On January 23, 2014, we entered into an amendment to the agreement with Liberty Media to defer the previously scheduled $240,000 repurchase of shares of our common stock from Liberty Media from January 27, 2014 to April 25, 2014, the date of the final purchase installment under the agreement. As a result of this deferral, we expect to repurchase $340,000 of our shares of common stock from Liberty Media on April 25, 2014 at a price of $3.66 per share. We entered into this amendment at the request of the Special Committee of our board of directors that has been formed to review and evaluate the Liberty Media proposal. See “Note 1 - Recent Developments.”

On January 3, 2014, Holdings' Board of Directors received a non-binding letter from Liberty Media proposing a transaction pursuant to which all outstanding shares of common stock of Holdings not owned by Liberty Media would be converted into the right to receive 0.0760 of a new non-voting share of Liberty Series C common stock. Holdings' Board of Directors has formed a Special Committee to consider Liberty Media’s proposal.

Liberty Media has advised us that as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 it also owned the following:
 
December 31,
2013
 
December 31,
2012
7% Exchangeable Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014
$
11,000

  
$
11,000

8.75% Senior Notes due 2015

  
150,000

7.625% Senior Notes due 2018

  
50,000

Total principal debt
11,000

  
211,000

Less: discounts
41

  
2,094

Total carrying value of debt
$
10,959

  
$
208,906



During the year ended December 31, 2013, we redeemed $150,000 of our 8.75% Senior Notes due 2015 and $50,000 of our 7.625% Senior Notes due 2018 held by Liberty Media as part of the redemption of these Notes in their entirety.

As of December 31, 2013 and 2012, we recorded $64 and $3,980, respectively, related to accrued interest with Liberty Media to Related party current liabilities. We recognized Interest expense associated with debt held by Liberty Media of $13,514, $30,931 and $35,681 for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The fair value of the derivative associated with the share repurchase agreement with Liberty Media was $15,702 as of December 31, 2013 and is recorded in Holdings' consolidated balance sheet in Related party current liabilities, with changes in fair value recorded to Holdings' statements of comprehensive income.

Sirius XM Canada
In June 2011, Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the former parent company of XM Canada, and Sirius Canada completed a transaction to combine their operations ("the Canada Merger"). In January 2013, Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. changed its name to Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. The combined company operates as Sirius XM Canada.
We own approximately 46,700,000 Class A shares on a converted basis of Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. representing a 37.5% equity interest and a 25.0% voting interest.

We had the following Related party current asset balances attributable to Sirius XM Canada at December 31, 2013 and 2012:
 
December 31,
2013
 
December 31,
2012
Deferred programming costs and accrued interest
$
2,782

 
$
4,350

Dividends receivable

 
6,176

Chip set and other services reimbursement
2,387

 
2,641

Fair value of host contract of debenture
3,641

 

Fair value of embedded derivative of debenture
57

 

Total
$
8,867

  
$
13,167



We provide Sirius XM Canada with chip sets and other services and we are reimbursed for these costs. Sirius XM Canada declared dividends of $6,176 during the year ended December 31, 2012 which were not paid until 2013.

We hold an investment in CAD $4,000 face value of 8% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures issued by Sirius XM Canada for which the embedded conversion feature is bifurcated from the host contract. As of December 31, 2013, the debentures are classified as a Related party current asset since they are expected to be redeemed by Sirius XM Canada during the first quarter of 2014. The host contract is accounted for at fair value as an available-for-sale security with changes in fair value recorded to Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax. The embedded conversion feature is accounted for at fair value as a derivative with changes in fair value recorded in earnings as Interest and investment income.

Related party long-term asset balances attributable to Sirius XM Canada consisted of the following:    
 
December 31,
2013
 
December 31,
2012
Non-interest bearing note, principal
$
376

 
$
404

Fair value of host contract of debenture

 
3,877

Fair value of embedded derivative of debenture

 
9

Investment balance*
26,972

 
37,983

Deferred programming costs and other receivables
271

 
1,924

Total
$
27,619

  
$
44,197

* The investment balance included equity method goodwill and intangible assets of $26,161 and $27,615 as of December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

We hold a non-interest bearing note issued by Sirius XM Canada. Our interest in Sirius XM Canada is accounted for under the equity method. The excess of the cost of our ownership interest in the equity of Sirius XM Canada over our share of the net assets is recognized as goodwill and intangible assets and is included in the carrying amount of our investment. Equity method goodwill is not amortized. We periodically evaluate this investment to determine if there has been an other than temporary decline below carrying value. Equity method intangible assets are amortized over their respective useful lives, which is recorded in Interest and investment income.

Sirius XM Canada declared quarterly dividends of $16,796 and $7,749 during the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, which were recorded as a reduction to our investment balance in Sirius XM Canada.

Related party liabilities attributable to Sirius XM Canada consisted of the following:
 
December 31,
2013
 
December 31,
2012
Deferred revenue for NHL licensing fees
$
1,500

 
$

Carrying value of deferred revenue
18,966

 
21,742

Deferred revenue for software licensing fees and other
425

 

Total
$
20,891

  
$
21,742



In 2005, XM entered into agreements to provide XM Canada, now Sirius XM Canada, with the right to offer XM satellite radio service in Canada. The agreements have an initial ten-year term, and Sirius XM Canada has the unilateral option to extend the agreements for an additional five-year term. We receive a 15% royalty for all subscriber fees earned by XM Canada each month for its basic service and an activation fee for each gross activation of an XM Canada subscriber on XM’s system. Sirius XM Canada is obligated to pay us a total of $70,300 for the rights to broadcast and market National Hockey League (“NHL”) games for a ten-year term. We recognize these payments on a gross basis as a principal obligor pursuant to the provisions of ASC 605, Revenue Recognition. The estimated fair value of deferred revenue from XM Canada as of the Merger date was approximately $34,000, which is amortized on a straight-line basis through 2020, the end of the expected term of the agreements.

We recorded the following revenue from Sirius XM Canada as Other revenue in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income:
 
For the Years Ended December 31,
 
2013
 
2012
 
2011 *
Royalty income
$
35,411

 
$
31,368

 
$
13,735

Amortization of Sirius XM Canada deferred income
2,776

 
2,776

 
1,388

Licensing fee revenue
5,012

 
4,500

 
3,000

Advertising and other reimbursements
3,001

 
833

 
417

Streaming revenue
2,735

 

 

Total revenue from Sirius XM Canada
$
48,935

 
$
39,477

 
$
18,540


* Sirius XM Canada commenced operations in June 2011.

Our share of net earnings or losses of Sirius XM Canada are recorded to Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income on a one month lag. Our share of Sirius XM Canada’s net income was $7,319, $554 and $1,081 for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. We recorded amortization expense related to the equity method intangible assets of $1,454, $974 and $1,556 for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Sirius Canada
We had an equity interest of 49% in Sirius Canada until June 21, 2011 when the Canada Merger closed.

In 2005, we entered into a license and services agreement with Sirius Canada. Pursuant to such agreement, we were reimbursed for certain costs incurred to provide Sirius Canada service, including certain costs incurred for the production and distribution of radios, as well as information technology support costs. In consideration for the rights granted pursuant to this license and services agreement, we had the right to receive a royalty equal to a percentage of Sirius Canada’s gross revenues based on subscriber levels (ranging between 5% and 15%) and the number of Canadian-specific channels made available to Sirius Canada.

We recorded the following revenue from Sirius Canada. Royalty income is included in Other revenue and dividend income is included in Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income:
 
For the Year Ended December 31,
 
2011 *
Royalty income
$
9,945

Dividend income
460

Total revenue from Sirius Canada
$
10,405

* Sirius Canada combined with XM Canada in June 2011.

Receivables from royalty and dividend income were utilized to absorb a portion of our share of net losses generated by Sirius Canada. Total costs reimbursed by Sirius Canada were $5,253 for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Our share of net earnings or losses of Sirius Canada was recorded to Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income on a one month lag. Our share of Sirius Canada’s net loss was $9,717 for the year ended December 31, 2011. The payments received from Sirius Canada in excess of carrying value were $6,748 for the year ended December 31, 2011.

XM Canada
We had an equity interest of 21.5% in XM Canada until June 21, 2011 when the Canada Merger closed.

We recorded the following revenue from XM Canada as Other revenue in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income:
 
For the Year Ended December 31,
 
2011 *
Amortization of XM Canada deferred income
$
1,388

Subscriber and activation fee royalties
5,483

Licensing fee revenue
3,000

Advertising reimbursements
833

Total revenue from XM Canada
$
10,704

* XM Canada combined with Sirius Canada in June 2011.

Our share of net earnings or losses of XM Canada was recorded to Interest and investment income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income on a one month lag. Our share of XM Canada’s net loss was $6,045 for the year ended December 31, 2011.

M-Way
As part of the acquisition of the connected vehicle business of Agero in November 2013, we acquired a 30% ownership in M-Way Solutions GmbH ("M-Way"), a German mobile software solutions provider, which is accounted for utilizing the equity method of accounting. We have recorded a $2,545 investment in M-Way in Related party long-term assets on our consolidated balance sheet. We also acquired an option to purchase the remaining 70% ownership of M-Way which expires in 2017.