SiriusXM Is Acquiring Pandora in $3.5 Billion Deal To Create the 'World's Largest Audio-Entertainment Company' (variety.com) 104
Sirius XM has agreed to buy online-music service Pandora for $3.5 billion, as the satellite-radio company looks to add streaming services in the increasingly competitive fight for listeners. From a report: According to the announcement, the deal will create "the world's largest audio-entertainment company," with more than $7 billion in projected revenue in 2018 and more than 100 million monthly listeners, combining SiriusXM's 36 million subscribers and Pandora's 70 million-plus monthly active users. It also moves SiriusXM and its parent company, Liberty Media, aggressively into the streaming market. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 and is subject to approval by Pandora stockholders; expiration or termination of any applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and certain competition laws of foreign jurisdictions; and other customary closing conditions. On a call with analysts, Jim Meyer, Sirius XM's chief executive, said that the acquisition would enable Sirius to try to keep listeners who did not want to pay for music by diverting them toward Pandora's free ads-based model.