Good morning. I'm Eve Konstan, the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Secretary of SiriusXM. I will act as secretary of this meeting. I am joined today by Jennifer Witz, Chief Executive Officer of SiriusXM, who will act as chair of this meeting, and Zac Coughlin, Chief Financial Officer of SiriusXM. Welcome to our 2026 annual meeting of stockholders. As we have in the past, we are conducting this entire meeting virtually. Let me take a few moments to run through some of the basics about this meeting. This information is also contained in the proxy statement for the meeting. This virtual meeting has been designed to provide the same rights and advantages as a physical meeting. Stockholders will be able to vote and present questions.
Specifically, stockholders who join this meeting using their 16-digit control number will be able to submit questions during the meeting by typing in their question into the Ask a Question box on the meeting page. If you do not have your 16-digit control number, you have joined this annual meeting as a guest, and you will not be able to vote or ask questions. Questions pertinent to meeting matters will be answered after we conclude the business of this meeting. Questions regarding personal matters, including those related to employment or a stockholder's service issues, are, among others, not pertinent to this meeting and will not be answered. Prior to this meeting, we received questions from stockholders, some of which concern the same topic or issue. For efficiency purposes, we have consolidated and condensed those questions. As a result, a stockholder may not hear his or her question asked verbatim.
Should you require technical assistance, please dial the support number displayed on your login page. If there are any significant technical issues hosting this meeting, we will adjourn and post information to this website regarding the time and manner in which the meeting will be reconvened. I would like to open this annual meeting of stockholders by reporting that of the 336,550,321 shares of common stock entitled to vote as of the record date, in excess of 81% of such shares of common stock are present in person or by proxy. Therefore, I declare a quorum present and call this meeting to order. The polls are now open. As indicated in the proxy statement, we are here today regarding the following items. Item one, to elect three class I and three class II directors.
Item two, to hold a non-binding advisory vote on the compensation paid to our named executive officers. Item three, to approve amendment number one to the Sirius XM Holdings Inc. 2024 Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan to increase the number of shares available for issuance by an additional 7,200,000 shares and extend the term of the 2024 plan. Item four, to ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accountants for 2026. Any stockholder who has not voted and wishes to vote today may do so through the facilities of this website. The board of directors has appointed Tracy Oates as the independent Inspector of Election at this meeting. She is participating in the meeting representing Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. Ms. Oates has taken an oath of office to execute faithfully the duties of inspector with strict impartiality and according to the best of her ability.
I have an affidavit from Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. that the mailing of our annual report, proxy statement, and proxy card commenced on April 10, 2026, to stockholders of record on April 2, 2026. In addition, with us today are representatives from KPMG, our independent registered public accounting firm, who are available to answer appropriate questions. Before we move on with the business of this meeting, all stockholders should note that the polls will be closing within the next minute. Stockholders should please cast any remaining votes now. I now declare the polls closed. Before I announce the summary results of the vote, I should inform you that the final results will be reported on a current report on Form 8-K within four business days of this meeting. That Form 8-K will provide more detail on the voting results of this meeting.
The preliminary results of the voting are as follows. Item 1, election of six directors. Based on the voting results, the following persons are hereby elected to serve as class I directors of SiriusXM. Eddy Hartenstein, Kristina M. Salen, and Jennifer Witz. The following persons are hereby elected to serve as class II directors of SiriusXM. Evan Malone, Jonelle Procope, and Anjali Sud. Item 2, stockholders have voted in a non-binding advisory vote to approve the compensation paid to our named executive officers for 2025. Item 3, stockholders have voted to approve amendment number one to the Sirius XM Holdings Inc. 2024 Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan. Item 4, the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accountants for 2026 has been ratified by the shareholders. That concludes the formal portion of the annual stockholders meeting.
Before opening the meeting for questions, I am pleased to introduce our Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Witz, who will provide a business update. Following her remarks, Ms. Witz and Mr. Coughlin will participate in the question and answer session.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of our management team and board of directors, I want to thank our shareholders for your continued support and confidence in SiriusXM. 2025 was a year of meaningful progress and disciplined execution for our company. In our first full year as an independent public company following the Liberty Media transaction, we reached an important milestone with our debut on the Fortune 500. This achievement reflects the strength of our differentiated audio portfolio, the resilience of our business model, and our team's consistent focus on delivering against our commitments.
At the beginning of the year, we established a clear strategic framework centered on three priorities: strengthening our subscription business through exceptional in-car experiences, accelerating growth across our advertising business, and leveraging the full breadth of the SiriusXM portfolio to drive efficiencies and unlock new opportunities for growth. Those priorities guided our decisions throughout the year and continue to position us well for long-term value creation. Our financial performance in 2025 reflected that disciplined execution. We delivered $8.56 billion in revenue, $2.67 billion in adjusted EBITDA, and $1.26 billion in free cash flow, results that exceeded our expectations and demonstrated both the durability of our business and the strength of our cash generation capabilities. Across our platform, SiriusXM continued to deliver the voices, stories, and experiences that entertain and inform millions of listeners across North America.
Our distinctive human-curated approach to audio remains a defining competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Throughout the year, we expanded our music, talk, sports, and news offerings through new talent partnerships, innovative programming, and deeper relationships with creators and artists. In music, we broadened our leadership position with launches such as Unwell Music with Alex Cooper and exclusive artist channels, including Chris Stapleton Radio. In talk programming, we renewed and expanded relationships with iconic personalities, including Andy Cohen, Megyn Kelly, and Howard Stern, whose new agreement extends his exclusive relationship with SiriusXM for another three years. We also welcomed compelling new voices, including Stephen A. Smith. Our sports portfolio remains unmatched in audio. SiriusXM continues to deliver the most comprehensive live play-by-play offering in the industry while extending important partnerships, including our longstanding relationship with the NBA.
We also launched the first-ever 24/7 professional wrestling audio channel, further expanding the breadth of our sports offering. Beyond audio programming, we continued creating exclusive experiences that bring subscribers closer to the artists and talent they love through intimate live events featuring performers such as Ed Sheeran, Metallica, and Kelsea Ballerini. At the center of all of this is our commitment to distinctive, curated content that deepens engagement, strengthens loyalty, and differentiates SiriusXM across the broader audio landscape. In the car, where our heritage and competitive advantages remain strongest, we continue to widen our leadership position. Adoption of our 360L platform accelerated meaningfully during the year, supported by expanded agreements with Toyota and Mitsubishi Motors. Our multi-year automotive subscription program also continued to grow and now spans more than 15 brands across North America.
Today, more than half of new SiriusXM-enabled vehicles include 360L technology, delivering a more personalized and seamless listening experience for subscribers. We also launched Continuous Service, which allows subscribers to transition seamlessly between vehicles and companion subscriptions, which extend access across households, further reinforcing the value of the SiriusXM experience. At the same time, we made significant progress across our advertising-supported businesses. In 2025, SiriusXM became the number one podcast network in the U.S. by weekly reach, according to Edison Research. Podcast advertising revenue grew 41% for the year, while our expanding programmatic capabilities strengthened our position with digital advertisers. We also continued to grow our creator ecosystem through partnerships with leading voices including Stephanie Soo, Trevor Noah, MrBallen, and Morbid. Increasingly, these partnerships extend beyond audio to video and social platforms, creating additional opportunities for audience growth and monetization.
Importantly, these achievements were supported by a disciplined operational approach across the organization. We exceeded our cost-saving targets, streamlined our cost structure, and improved efficiency throughout the business. This allowed us to continue investing in high-return growth initiatives while also expanding free cash flow and strengthening our balance sheet. Alongside these operational and strategic advances, we continued strengthening our leadership team for the future. We welcomed two new directors to our board, Anjali Sud and Dave Stephenson, and appointed Scott Walker as Chief Advertising Revenue Officer. We also named Zac Coughlin as our new Chief Financial Officer and Eve Konstan as Chief Legal Officer, both of whom officially joined us earlier this year. Together, these leaders bring deep expertise and valuable new perspectives as we continue executing our long-term strategy. Looking ahead, our priorities remain clear.
We are focused on maintaining a stable and highly engaged subscriber base, expanding our advertising business, optimizing our operations, and driving sustained cash flow growth. We continue to see a path toward approximately $1.5 billion in free cash flow by 2027, supported by durable subscription economics, disciplined cost management, and continued innovation across our platform. SiriusXM's unique combination of premium content, unmatched in-car distribution, scaled audience reach, growing advertising capabilities, and valuable spectrum portfolio positions us strongly for the future. We remain committed to disciplined execution, strategic investment, and delivering sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders. Most importantly, I want to recognize our employees. Their dedication, creativity, and resilience continue to drive our success every day, and their contributions are fundamental to everything we achieved this year.
On behalf of the board of directors and the entire SiriusXM team, thank you again for your continued support and confidence in our company. We look forward to the opportunities ahead. Before we open the line for Q&A, I want to briefly address recent media speculation regarding SiriusXM. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on rumors, and we ask that you keep today's questions focused on our operating and financial performance. Our board and management team are always focused on creating long-term value for our shareholders and will continue to pursue that objective in a thoughtful and disciplined way. With that, I will turn the call back over to Eve so that we can begin our Q&A session.
Thanks, Jennifer. Our first question is: Since outlining your strategy in late 2024 to strengthen SiriusXM's leadership in the car, what progress have you made against those priorities, and where are you seeing the biggest opportunities ahead?
Sure. Since late 2024, we've made meaningful progress across the three priorities we established, strengthening the subscription business through exceptional in-car listening experiences, accelerating growth in advertising, and leveraging the scale of the SiriusXM portfolio to drive efficiency and long-term shareholder value. I'll go through each of these. In the subscription business, we're seeing encouraging momentum. In the first quarter of this year, we delivered the lowest churn in company history alongside our highest customer satisfaction scores ever, and we saw continued improvement in ARPU trends. All of this reinforces the strength and resilience of our model. We've continued to improve the in-car experience through the expansion of 360L, which is creating a more personalized and engaging experience across both satellite and streaming delivery into the car.
At the same time, initiatives like Continuous Service, companion subscriptions, and extended duration plans offered through dealers are improving retention, engagement, and customer lifetime value. In advertising, the second piece, is also becoming a more important growth driver. Pandora continues to serve as a core part of our advertising business, and podcasting continues to perform really well. Our exclusive partnership with YouTube significantly expands our reach to 255 million monthly listeners and strengthens our position as a scaled leader in digital audio advertising. At the same time, on the third piece, we continue to drive efficiencies across the portfolio while investing in the highest return areas of the business, supporting both margin expansion and free cash flow growth. Beyond the operating business, we continue to view our spectrum portfolio as a unique long-term strategic asset with increasing flexibility and optionality over time.
Looking ahead, the opportunity is really about scaling the progress we're already seeing, further improving subscriber quality and engagement, deepening personalization through 360L and streaming, expanding our advertising capabilities, and executing on strategic partnerships like YouTube. We will continue to leverage our differentiated content, in-car distribution, data capabilities, and spectrum assets to drive long-term shareholder value.
Our second question. Since SiriusXM was separated from Liberty Media, the stock price has underperformed investor expectations. How does management feel about the stock price today, and what specific milestones or strategic initiatives do you believe can drive improved share price performance going forward?
Great. Thank you, Eve. Our focus remains on driving long-term shareholder value through disciplined execution, operational improvement, and consistent free cash flow growth. We believe the underlying fundamentals of the business continue to strengthen and position the company well for that long-term value creation. In the first quarter, we delivered 1% revenue growth, 6% EBITDA growth, and free cash flow growth that actually more than tripled year-over-year to $171 million. We also achieved the lowest first quarter churn in company history at 1.5%, improved ARPU, and we delivered meaningful improvements year-over-year in self-pay net additions. All important indicators that the quality, resilience, and cash generating power of the business continue to strengthen. Looking forward, we are focused on several priorities we believe can support improved shareholder re-returns over time. First, continued free cash flow growth.
We reaffirmed our expectation for approximately $1.35 billion of free cash flow in 2026, with a path towards $1.5 billion in 2027. As I discussed earlier, we are delivering new subscriber programs and benefits, as well as new advertising partnerships that provide us a path to deliver future revenue growth as well. In addition, as we move beyond the current satellite investment cycle and continue to realize benefits from our cost efficiency initiatives across our business, we expect cash generation and financial flexibility to improve further. Second, continued balance sheet progress and disciplined capital allocation. We remain on track to achieve our target leverage range of low to mid three times by year end, which we expect will further enhance financial flexibility and support a balanced shareholder focused approach to capital deployment.
Given the strong free cash flow characteristics of our business, we continue to view opportunistic share repurchases as an attractive and efficient use of capital, particularly at valuation levels that do not appear to fully reflect the long-term earnings power, cash generation, and strategic asset value of the company. At the same time, we remain committed to returning capital through our dividend, which continues to represent an important component of our overall shareholder return framework. Over time, this balanced approach combined continued deleveraging, disciplined share repurchases, and a sustainable dividend can meaningfully enhance long-term per share value creation.
Finally, as Jennifer mentioned as well, we continue to view our spectrum assets as providing meaningful long-term strategic optionality, with optionality being a key word there, and an additional source of potential value creation, particularly as industry interest in satellite connectivity and scarce spectrum assets continue to increase. Ultimately, our focus is not on managing the stock quarter to quarter, but on strengthening the quality, durability, long-term free cash flow profile of the business, and we expect sustained execution against these priorities, combined with disciplined capital allocation to drive long-term shareholder value.
All right. Jennifer and Zac, this concludes our Q&A session. We would like to thank all of you who joined us. Have a great day.
Today's conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect your lines.