Howard Stern is not leaving SiriusXM, at least for now, after elaborate prank

New York CNN Howard Stern pranked his fans and the media Monday about leaving his longtime SiriusXM radio show Bravo host Andy Cohen appeared at the top of Stern s a m time slot announcing that he was taking over the channel and rebranding it as Andy Multiple media outlets including CNBC Variety and the Associated Press published reports that Stern was leaving the radio arrangement However Stern came back on air about minutes later announcing that it was a hoax He criticized inaccurate reports in the media about his employment status during his summer hiatus calling them bad rumors The news briefly sent SiriusXM SIRI shares down nearly in premarket trading before rebounding The prank comes as his future with SiriusXM remains unclear after signing a -year deal in Stern had previously announced he would address his future last week but pushed it back a week to this Monday because of an illness What pisses me off is now I can t leave Stern joked I ve been thinking about retiring Now I can t He hasn t officially stated his future with the company but explained talks with the executives have been fantastic and he s very happy at Sirius Stern read headlines and aired TV clips of networks falling for the hoax He also mentioned a analysis about a supposed feud with Alex Cooper the popular podcaster who struck a million deal last year with SiriusXM I don t know Alex Cooper he revealed If she is young and bubbly then God bless her because I m the opposite Also throughout the morning Stern warned his fans he might not appear the rest of the week because of a cold tampering speculation about his employment status SiriusXM has undergone several rounds of layoffs over the past scarce years including reducing spending on content and marketing Shares are down nearly over the past five years Stern left terrestrial radio in making shockwaves in media and joining then Sirius Satellite Radio before it merged with XM Radio in a million deal