The suit filed in New York turns on what Stern's One Twelve Inc. production company and his agent Don Buchwald claim are unfulfilled promises to share in the satellite radio company's success through stock awards. TMZ.com says "Sirius courted Howard to come there in the first place by promising him a share 'in any success that the company achieved.'" Stern says the benchmarks for his stock bonuses with Sirius ranged from 3.7 million subscribers in 2006 to 12.1 million in 2010. Whereas the actual combined subscriber count of Sirius and XM by then was about 20 million. TMZ says "the suit claims Sirius needed Stern more than Stern needed Sirius." Howard signed a new five-year deal with Sirius XM only three months ago.

Here's what the satellite radio operator tells Radio-Info.com: “SIRIUS XM just signed a contract through 2015 with Howard Stern, and he is a valued part of our company. We were thus surprised and disappointed by the subsequent legal action initiated by his production company and agent. We have met all of our obligations under the terms of our 2004 agreement with Howard, his agent and production company.”