Sirius-XM Merger Blessed By DOJ

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The Justice Department has given its approval to Sirius Satellite Radio's $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio. Here's the ruling.

Lawyers for the DOJ concluded that the proposed merger would not be an anticompetitive threat thanks to emerging radio markets. "The likely evolution of technology in the future, including the expected introduction in the next several years of mobile broadband Internet devices, made it even more unlikely that the transaction would harm consumers in the longer term," the Justice Department said.

So what comes now? Before the deal becomes official, the FCC must also bless the deal. That's very likely to happen. The stock has been hit hard in recent months, and there's some chatter on message boards about a shareholder suit, but that's nothing compared to the lawsuit that the Justice Department faced had they nixed the merger.