Pandora Weighing Potential Sale
Feb 11, 2016, 4:47 PM by Eric M. Zeman
Pandora Media may sell itself and has met with Morgan Stanley to help broker such an action, reports the New York Times. The music-streaming service has seen its stock value drop by 60% over the last few months and the company is facing increased competition from the likes of Apple Music and Spotify. Pandora is the largest music-streaming service in terms of raw users with north of 75 million subscribers. Apple Music has 10 million subscribers and Spotify claims to have more than 20 million. Apple Music launched in June of last year and Pandora's user base has eroded since then. Last year, Pandora spent $450 million for Ticketfly and $75 million for Rdio. The company said it made those purchases to improve its product offering, but the Times' source did not make clear what Pandora expects to get from a sale of itself. Pandora did not comment on the Times' story.
Advertisements
Comments
What Has "Always Been" Won't "Always Be"...
Blockbuster-"VHS, DVD, Laserdisc, and Video Game Rentals"
Palm & Blackberry -"...at one time, your only REAL choice for a smartphone"
Wireless Carriers - "Metered Minutes & Unlimited Data" (it's reversed now)
Fuel Stations - Pumping Fuel THEN Paying
Wal Mart - Was shoulder to shoulder with K Mart, Zayre, TG&Y, McCrorys, Target, had REAL customer service and did not sell groceries other than snacks, candy, soda and one small cooler for eggs and milk
Internet - Mid 1990's was considered a hobby for a select few and was deemed unsuitable and totally impractical for commerce due to the logistics of securing payments and overall transaction security.
Amazon - Started off as an obscure online book store.
...
(continues)
Not sure when you went to school, but when I went to school:
95-100 = A
94-80 = B
79-70 = C
69-60 = D
59-0 = F
The scale didn't vary much from that in col...
(continues)
Pandora did not evolve, this is what happens.
Over the years, the "radio only" business model, lackluster audio quality, inflexible plans, having 10,000 ads per station, and simply not having the full music library of the others is what's killing them.
For instance, why would i pay Pandora $4/mo when I can pay the SAME thing to slacker and get the same functionality as well as a billion pre-programmed stations that I do not have to "think" - just click and listen. Also, not to mention Slacker's audio quality is much much better than pandora!
If they can find a way to offer an on-demand option, this alone will be enough to completely turn them around.
Apple Music
To add to your comment. I would LOVE to know the percentage of Apple Music "Subscribers" that forgot or overlooke...
(continues)
Too Bad