Pandora, a name in the music streaming game that has seen better days is a getting a shot in the arm thanks to SiriusXM radio.
Versace isn’t the only company being bought today. SiriusXM is dipping into its deep pockets and dropping $3.5 billion in an all-stock option deal. Once the deal is finalized, SiriusXM intends to maintain Pandora’s service and brand which still has an estimated roughly 70 million monthly active users (5.6 million paying members) and add them to its existing 36 million users.
SiriusXM and Pandora are not strangers to each other, back in June 2017, the satellite radio giant invested $480 million the streaming service immediately sparking speculation of an outright buyout.
SiriusXM’s CEO Jim Meyer had this to say about the deal:
“This strategic transaction builds on SiriusXM’s position as the leader in subscription radio and a critically acclaimed curator of exclusive audio programming with the addition of the largest U.S. audio streaming platform,” the announcement reads in part. “Pandora’s powerful music platform will enable SiriusXM to significantly expand its presence beyond vehicles into the home and other mobile areas. Following the completion of the transaction, there will be no immediate change in listener offerings.”
Pandora has been around for been for two decades but has seen better days. The company lost over $200 million in the first half of 2018. With streaming giants such as Spotify and Apple Music right now dominating the streaming wars, Pandora is finding it difficult to keep up. Initially being more of radio-style that selected music based on your preferences it adopted a premium subscription service in 2017 that allowed users to curate playlists like its competitors.
Hopefully, with its acquisition by SiriusXM which also does boast some sort of relationship as part of the deal with unnamed record labels that could bring exclusives to the service to help put Pandora back on the map.
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