Why did Sirius XM stock go up today? short squeeze amid Liberty Media offer
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Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI) surged 15% as the stock squeezed hire after Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LSXMA) offered to spin off its tracking shares to combine them with the publicly traded shares. 
Liberty Media (LSXMA) on Tuesday said it approached
Sirius XM (SIRI) for a proposed combination of the Liberty Sirius XM tracking stock group (LSXMA), also called LSXM, with SIRI to form a new, consolidated public company.
"While the exchange ratio may not be attractive relative to recent SIRI trading levels, there are likely benefits to collapsing the structure," Morgan Stanley analyst Cameron Manson-Perrone, who has an underweight rating and a $4 price target on SIRI, wrote in a note on Wednesday. "Specifically, it cleans up a complicated ownership structure and establishes a single, voting, common share class."
Sirius XM (SIRI) shares surged, at least partly, as about 27% of their shares were sold short. In general, Sirius XM shares tend to fluctuate wildly because Liberty Media (LSXMA) owns more than 80% of the company, leaving a relatively small number of shares that trade. The move today is a bit similar to July 20, when SIRI shares surged 42%, also fueled by a short squeeze.
"Ultimately, we believe a merger will take place and believe approval could be announced ahead of Libertyâs Investor Day, which is scheduled for November 9th," BofA analyt Jessica Reif Ehrlich, who has a buy rating and $38 price target on Liberty Sirius (LSXMA), wrote in a note on Wednesday, "As such, it is possible that the deal could close in 1Q24."

Liberty SiriusXM: The Discount Being Closed
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Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (SIRI) Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference (Transcript)
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