Most tech stocks are down today amid a broader markets selloff, but Pandora shares are surging as talk of a takeover rises again.
Pandora shares are up about 7.5 percent to $16.48 as of 11 a.m. Pacific time, after climbing as high as 11 percent earlier this morning. Trading volume has been heavy.
The Oakland-based streaming music provider has often been the subject of buyout speculation. Billboard, which notes that there s speculation on Twitter and elsewhere, reminds us that possible buyers that have been mentioned going back a couple of years include Google, Apple, Amazon, Yahoo and Clear Channel.
How attractive is Pandora? A new report from Triton Digital this week on streaming music in the United States showed that Pandora kept its hold on the top spot in January, with 2.2 million active streams. A distant No. 2 was Spotify, with about 757 million active streams. No. 3 was iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel).
Last week, Pandora announced at its investor meeting that it planned to roll out a pass that would let listeners pay for a day without advertising. The pass would be separate from Pandora s monthly ad-free subscription service.
Photo from Bay Area News Group archives
