SiriusXM announced that it will be giving digital music streaming service Pandora $480 million, giving the satellite radio company 16 percent ownership.Pandora will also be giving up on its ticket service Ticketfly, which it acquired for $450 million back in October 2015 and will nowsell to Eventbrite for $200 million.
Pandora's mixing up its business plan, and SiriuxXM is a way to help the company expand beyond just advertising to free listeners.
Jim Meyer, the Chief Executive Officer ofSiriusXM, released a statement on the new alliance saying, “This strategic investment in Pandora represents a unique opportunity for SiriusXM to create value for its stockholders by investing in the leader in the ad-supported digital radio business, a space where SiriusXM does not play today."