It was announced this morning that SiriusXM will buy Pandora in an all-stock deal totaling $3.5 billion. The transaction will create the world's largest audio entertainment company, according to both companies.
The deal is expected to close sometime in the first quarter of 2019.
Last year, SiriusXM had invested $480 million to buy 19% of Pandora's stock, and the company was reported to be looking at purchasing it in full.
Shortly after that announcement last year, Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren lost his positions as CEO and board member, and President Michael herring lost his position as well.
While Pandora's stock was down 35% last year, it has nearly doubled since.
"We have long respected Pandora and their team for their popular consumer offering that has attracted a massive audience, and have been impressed by Pandora's strategic progress and stronger execution," said Jim Meyer, CEO of SiriusXM. "We believe there are significant opportunities to create value for both companies' stockholders by combining our complementary businesses. The addition of Pandora diversifies SiriusXM's revenue streams with the U.S.'s largest ad-supported audio offering, broadens our technical capabilities, and represents an exciting next step in our efforts to expand our reach out of the car even further.
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