SiriusXM Agrees To Purchase Pandora For A Whopping $3.5 Billion

Robin Marchant/Getty Images for SiriusXM

Sirius To Purchase Pandora For $3.5 Billion

Subscription radio company Sirius XM Holdings Inc. has just secured an absolutely massive deal in acquiring music streaming service, Pandora Media Inc. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Though Pandora was very popular in the earlier days of streaming, many ended up leaving the service for other services that allow you to pick the songs you want to listen to, instead of curated playlists with a limited number of skips. In an attempt to team up against the big names like Spotify Technology and Apple Inc, Sirius has agreed to a $3.5 billion purchase, which comes only one year after its already big $480 million investment in the same company. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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In fact, according to certain reports, Sirius’ previous investment now represents its 15% stake in the streaming company–so their money definitely didn’t go to waste.

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Even though Spotify is the global leader, in regards to streaming services with subscriptions–with Apple following very close behind–the Wall Street Journal reports that Pandora has the largest service in the United States, with more than 74 million active listeners. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Though this might be the same, Pandora has still taken a hit due to listeners having gravitated to platforms that “allow listeners to play individual songs on demand,” the publication reports. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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But now, moving forward under this new deal, Sirius is going to create audio packages to pair its exclusive content and programming with Pandora’s ad-supported service, in an effort to create the world’s largest audio entertainment company. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Many fans and music listeners alike are specifically worried about this merger, because they believe that Sirius and Pandora cater to two completely different audiences: casual listeners who would rather have their music picked for them than to pay for a subscription, and dedicated listeners who will pay for a more expensive subscription to acquire exclusive content.

“We believe there are significant opportunities to create value for both companies’ stockholders by combining our complementary businesses,” SiriusXM CEO said about the move in a statement.