Sirius XM Completes Acquisition of Pandora

As expected, Sirius XM Holdings today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Pandora Media, making it “the world’s largest audio entertainment company,” according to the announcement. After years of discussion, Sirius XM acquired Pandora in a $3.5 billion deal last year.

Jim Meyer, Chief Executive Officer of SiriusXM, said, “This is a tremendous outcome for two organizations with complementary platforms and large audiences, and we could not be more excited to be moving forward as one company. With SiriusXM’s subscription-based national service of curated and exclusive content and programming, and Pandora, the largest U.S. streaming music provider with its highly personalized free ad-supported service, under one roof, SiriusXM now reaches more than 100 million people across its audio products. Importantly, the premier products that SiriusXM and Pandora listeners have enjoyed for years are not changing. That said, good things come from being together, and we look forward to creating new unique audio packages that combine our strengths and offer an even wider range of content to our listeners.”

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Meyer said in an earnings call Wednesday that he expected the transaction to be complete today. Earlier this week Pandora announced that Roger Lynch, its CEO since 2017, and several other executives will step down, with Lynch’s roles being absorbed by Meyer. Sirius announced record revenue of $1.5 billion and $5.8 billion for the fourth quarter and year of 2018, respectively, increasing 7% and 6% compared to the prior year periods.

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In today’s announcement, the company said it will “drive long term growth and value for its stockholders by employing the disciplined and focused approach that has always been an integral part of Sirius XM, including by:

• Capitalizing on cross-promotion opportunities across the combined company’s more than 100 million listeners in North America, with close to 40 million self-paying subscribers, and 75 million trialers and ad-based listeners, which represents the largest digital audio entertainment audience in the U.S.
• Pairing SiriusXM’s curation and exclusive programming with Pandora’s uniquely predictive listener personalization technology – representing one of the world’s most extensive datasets of music listening information – to deliver audio experiences tailored to the tastes of each listener.
• Creating new, unique audio packages that bring together the best of both services, providing a powerful platform for consumers to connect with established and emerging artists, entertainment brands, and talent.
• Expanding monetization opportunities through both ad-supported and subscription services – in and out of the vehicle – creating innovative new ways for listeners to enjoy even more audio entertainment.
• Continuing to invest in talent, content, technology and innovation to create and offer the best audio entertainment available, including specially-created music channels and programming from major and emerging artists, provocative talent in talk, entertainment, comedy, and exclusive sports programming.

As previously announced, the outstanding shares in Pandora not already owned by SiriusXM will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 1.44 newly issued SiriusXM shares. Shares of Pandora’s common stock are no longer trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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