Shock jock Howard Stern is still three days away from his satellite debut, but the controversial radio host has already raked in some US$218 million worth of stock in Sirius Satellite Radio. Yesterday, Stern was awarded 34.4 million shares after Sirius "exceeded agreed-upon subscriber targets," the company disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Stern will share the windfall with his agent Don Buchwald, according to the filing. The stock grant was part of the original $500 million five-year deal that enticed Stern to leave traditional radio for satellite -- but at the time the deal was announced in October 2004 the stock was worth about half what it is today.

In other words, the value of Stern's blockbuster deal has now ballooned to more than $600 million. But not all of that goes to Stern's pocket: the proceeds also go to pay his staff, to fund programming and towards the cost of building a new Midtown studio.