NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Pandora Media, Inc. on Tuesday announced that that the music streaming service’s shareholders had voted to approve an acquisition by Satellite radio giant Sirius XM.
According to Pandora, about 75% of the outstanding voting power of Pandora voting securities were voted, with approximately 97% of the votes cast in favor supporting SiriusXM’s acquisition of Pandora.
Following the vote, the transaction is expected to close shortly. After the deal concludes, shares of Pandora’s common stock will be delisted from trading on the New York Stock Exchange and each share will be converted into 1.44 shares of SiriusXM common stock.
Pandora was first launched in 2000 by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft, and Tim Westergren, with the plan of creating custom radio stations for users. In 2011, the company launched an IPO and by 2013, reported 200 million users, with about 70 million of those users who used the service on a monthly basis.
However, the company struggled with its business model, which did not allow users to play specific songs. In 2017, facing competition from rivals such as Spotify and Apple Music, the company changed its approach, offering direct music streaming in addition to its customized radio station features.
Following the acquisition, which has already been greenlit by the U.S. Justice Department, SiriusXM appears ready to clean house at the streaming service. Pandora announced that following the acquisition, their current CEO Roger Lynch will step down from his role at the company. In his place, SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer will lead the combined company.
Steve Bene, General Counsel of Pandora; Naveen Chopra, Chief Financial Officer of Pandora; and Kristen Robinson, Chief Human Resources Officer of Pandora, also will be exiting the company following the transaction closing.
The deal also continues Liberty Media’s slow vertical integration of entertainment companies. Liberty, led by John Malone, owns a stake in several major companies in the entertainment space, including a 74% stake in SiriusXM and a 34% share of Live Nation. As well, Liberty’s portfolio includes beachheads in the world of sports, with 15% stake in the Braves Group, which owns the Atlanta Braves MLB franchise; fully owns Formula 1 Motorsports; a 4% stake in Indian music streamer Saavn; and a 7% stake in Kroenke Arena Company, LLC, which operates the Pepsi Center.
The company is also reportedly weighing a 35% stake in the radio and entertainment conglomerate iHeartMedia, owner of radio giant iHeartRadio, as the company prepares to exit from bankruptcy.
