Pandora, SiriusXM Flirting With Marriage?
That chatter has been growing louder since last Friday when CNBC reported “Pandora is now open to selling itself and is now willing to engage with one-time suitor SiriusXM specifically.” Citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” CNBC says, “SiriusXM is expected to pursue a deal.” That being said, however, CNBC’s report did quote another anonymous person describing the situation as being “the first inning of the pro cess,” adding, “there is no assurance that Pandora will reach a deal with SiriusXM or other potentially interested parties.”
That sense of uncertainty didn’t appear to matter, however, as Pandora’s stock soared 16% on Friday following that CNBC report. Pandora declined to comment on the rumors, citing a policy against commenting on speculation. Pouring a little water on these newly fanned flames, Reuters reported Friday that Pandora is making no new effort to sell itself and is instead “focused on executing its strategy and its operating model.”
You may recall that back in July Pandora’s board rejected an informal $15-a-share offer from Liberty Media, the majority shareholder of SiriusXM, believing it could get a higher price elsewhere. After trading above $14 in the wake of that report, Pandora shares had fallen to near $10 a share earlier this month. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has been very public about the potential benefits of a merger between SiriusXM and Pandora, as he recently told CNBC, “We think that the free space, whether it be commercial terrestrial radio, or Pandora, is still a very attractive space. And we talked about how we’d like to find a way to participate. I think the streaming business, which Pandora seems to have doubled down on, is a very unattractive business. So there are parts of Pandora that could be attractive. And there’s parts that we’d have questions about.”
All this hoopla is happening in the midst of fiercer competition in the online streaming space, with Apple, Google and Amazon moving to compete with Pandora and Spotify. Spotify has also reportedly looked to team up with SoundCloud, according to the Financial Times.
