The streaming marketplace is on fire, and it looks like Pandora is feeling the burn:
Think Apple will buy Pandora? Makes more sense than buying Beats did.
Pandora Media, the largest Internet radio service, has held discussions about selling the company, according to people briefed on the talks.
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For Pandora, it would be a curious time to sell. Its shares are yielding a market value of $1.8 billion, down from more than $7 billion two years ago. The stock has fallen more than 60 percent since October.
Pandora has the largest number of users for music streaming, but the competition is encroaching. Spotify is said to be arming itself with another $500 million in capital, and Apple Music recently surpassed 10 million paying users. Pandora’s users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014, and, after falling to about 78 million in the third quarter of 2015, ended the year with 81.1 million.
The company is spending heavily to attract users, and its ability to make money from those users may be waning. In the third quarter, Pandora lowered its full-year financial guidance, expecting its adjusted earnings to be $51 million to $56 million, down from the $75 million to $85 million it projected in the quarter before.
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In its financial results, which Pandora announced Thursday afternoon, the company had $336 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, but spent $143 million in “content acquisition costs,” which includes music licenses, and $112.6 million on sales and marketing. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $19.4 million, in contrast to $12.3 million in net earnings for the same period the year before.
To preempt the wits: Apple is obviously doomed....
For Pandora, it would be a curious time to sell. Its shares are yielding a market value of $1.8 billion, down from more than $7 billion two years ago. The stock has fallen more than 60 percent since October.
Pandora has the largest number of users for music streaming, but the competition is encroaching. Spotify is said to be arming itself with another $500 million in capital, and Apple Music recently surpassed 10 million paying users. Pandora’s users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014, and, after falling to about 78 million in the third quarter of 2015, ended the year with 81.1 million.
The company is spending heavily to attract users, and its ability to make money from those users may be waning. In the third quarter, Pandora lowered its full-year financial guidance, expecting its adjusted earnings to be $51 million to $56 million, down from the $75 million to $85 million it projected in the quarter before.
...
In its financial results, which Pandora announced Thursday afternoon, the company had $336 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, but spent $143 million in “content acquisition costs,” which includes music licenses, and $112.6 million on sales and marketing. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $19.4 million, in contrast to $12.3 million in net earnings for the same period the year before.
Think Apple will buy Pandora? Makes more sense than buying Beats did.
