Who Founded SiriusXM?

David Margolese founded CD Radio (which was later renamed Sirius Satellite Radio) in 1990. Believing that consumers would pay for commercial-free, digital-quality radio broadcast from space, he spent a decade fiercely lobbying the FCC to allocate satellite frequencies. He raised the massive $1.5 billion required to launch the initial constellation of satellites before resigning as CEO in 2001, just as the service finally launched.

David Margolese was born in 1957 in Vancouver. Education: University of British Columbia.

Margolese was born on October 24, 1957 in Canada. He is regarded as one of the earliest advocates of pay radio.

Hugh Panero founded XM Satellite Radio in 1998, serving as its CEO until 2007, and led the company through its initial public offering and the launch of its first satellites in 2001. Under his leadership, XM grew through disciplined content acquisition, securing exclusive rights to live sports and the most valuable talk radio personalities in the industry. Panero instilled a culture of aggressive content monetization and premium subscription pricing, making XM the preferred audio destination for millions of American drivers. He led the company's initial negotiations with Sirius, recognizing that the duopoly was financially unsustainable and that a merger was the only path to long-term profitability. Panero resigned in 2007 prior to the finalization of the 2008 merger, but his legacy is a company that proved that consumers would pay a premium for exclusive, live, unscripted audio content, a philosophy that remains the core tenet of Sirius XM's self-pay subscription model today. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).