*By Kavitha Shastry*
Shares of Pandora ($P) soared early Monday after news that satellite radio provider SiriusXM ($SIRI) is buying the company for $3.5 billion.
The all-stock deal represents more than an 11 percent premium to where Pandora shares closed on Friday and brings to an end a long-running will-they-won't-they courtship between the two companies.
Sirius, which reportedly made an offer to acquire Pandora last year but was rebuffed, ultimately invested $480 million in the company, buying preferred stock for a 15 percent stake.
The music streaming service, a pioneer in the industry, has struggled to keep up with competition like Spotify ($SPOT) and Apple Music ($AAPL). In its last earnings report it said it had six million paying subscribers, compared to 83 million for Spotify and an estimated 50 million for Apple.
For Sirius, whose strength is in its car radio business, Pandora represents access to a new user base, albeit a relatively small one.
"This is Sirius recognizing that long term, they need to figure out the internet and this is the best solution," said Rich Greenfield, media and tech analyst at BTIG.
Under CEO Roger Lynch ー who took over the top spot last September, about three months after founder Tim Westergren resigned and just around the time the Sirius investment closed ー Pandora acquired audio adtech company AdsWizz, to deliver more targeted ads and a more personalized experience. The company also teamed up with Snap to allow Snapchat users to share songs seamlessly, even if they didn't subscribe to the same music services.
"We're trying to make \[music\] a lot more social," Lynch said in an interview with Cheddar at the Mobile World Congress earlier this month.
Shares of Pandora fell to an all-time low just over $4 in January, but have risen more than 120 percent since through Friday's close.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/siriusxm-acquiring-pandora-for-3-5-billion).
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
