Liberty, Sirius XM Board Sued Over $16 Billion Buyback ‘Scheme’

A Sirius XM Holdings Inc. investor filed suit in Delaware on Thursday, claiming partial parent Liberty Media Corp. is trying to back the entertainment company into a short-form merger—without spending a cent to increase its stake—by having Sirius buy back billions worth of stock.

The derivative lawsuit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, targets the Sirius board and 78% majority owner Liberty, which is controlled by billionaire John C. Malone. Malone himself—widely known as the “cable cowboy"—isn’t named as a defendant.

Liberty “is doing a squeeze-out in slow motion and, in a sense, in reverse,” by taking “minority shares off the ...