SiriusXM to acquire Pandora

Satellite radio company SiriusXM has announced a major acquisition today, bringing internet radio company Pandora into the fold.

The acquisition has a planned sales figure of $3.5 billion, and according to SiriusXM’s announcement the deal will mark the creation of the “world’s largest audio entertainment company”. SiriusXM plans on maintaining the Pandora service and platform for the foreseeable future, and the brand itself should be staying intact as well.

Pandora has 70 million members, 5.6 million of which are paid subscribers. Meanwhile, SiriusXM has about 36 million subscribers. SiriusXM has just been a major investor in Pandora, having invested $480 million and earning itself 19 percent stake in Pandora last year.

Pandora started out as an internet radio effort, building its preferences for listeners based on algorithms working in the background. However, it leaned more into the standard streaming options, similar to Google Play Music and Spotify, when it launched Pandora Premium last year.

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source: androidandme