NEW YORK -- Online music service Pandora is selling a nearly 20 per cent stake to satellite radio company Siriuus XM for $480 million as part of moves aimed at raising cash to help take on Spotify and other streaming music services.
Oakland, California-based Pandora will raise another $200 million selling its Ticketfly ticket service to Eventbrite. Pandora will pay a $22.5 million breakup fee to private equity firm KKR for breaking up a previously agreed $150 million deal.
Pandora works as an internet radio, and most users listen for free. In March it launched a subscription service that copied the strategy of competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. Like those apps, it lets users pick the songs they want to listen to.
Pandora has lost money in the past few years.
