Pandora stock to debut at $7 to $9 per share

Indonesian stock info - Pandora stock to debut at $7 to $9 per share ; OAKLAND, California — Pandora set a debut price for its initial offering of stock that could raise more than $141 million for the leading US Internet radio service.

The startup filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday indicating that its stock would be launched at from $7 to $9 per share, giving the offering a maximum value of slightly more than $141.6 million.

A mid-range price would value the offering at closer to $100 million, the figure Pandora said it was aiming to raise when it first filed plans with the SEC to go public in February.

Pandora indicated that it is going public in a bid to get the money it needs to grow and become profitable, and to deal with an accumulated operating deficit.

"A key element of our strategy is to aggressively increase the number of listeners and listener hours to increase our market penetration," Pandora said in its original SEC filing.

"However, as our number of listener hours increases, the royalties we pay for content acquisition also increase," the filing noted.

Pandora's revenue has not been enough to offset the cost of paying royalties on songs, and getting big enough to tip the balance with more paid advertising is essential, the startup indicated.

The Oakland, California-based firm released internal financial figures that revealed the company finished last year with a net loss of $16.7 million.

The bulk of Pandora's revenue comes from advertising, while about 14 percent of the money it takes in comes from subscriptions, according to the filing.

Pandora reported having 80 million registered users and that it streamed about 2.1 billion hours of music last year.

Pandora was among the top smartphone applications in the United States in 2010.

Pandora is available for the iPhone, the Blackberry, the Palm Pre, and devices running Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems but does not currently provide service outside the United States.

Pandora creates personalized radio stations for users based upon their favorite artists or songs and has seen booming growth on mobile devices, according to founder Tim Westergren.

Westergren said that the folks at Pandora were "not huge believers" in subscriptions although Pandora does offer a paid premium service which allows for unlimited listening beyond the monthly 40-hour limit on free accounts.

Westergren said Pandora's biggest competitor remains broadcast radio. "They own 90-plus percent of the market," he said.


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