Pandora CFO: We can extend our lead in online music

“Pandora Media Inc can continue to dominate in Web-based music, Chief Financial Officer Mike Herring said, even as rivals like Apple Inc. and Beats Electronics LLC join forces,” Anthony Palazzo reports for Bloomberg.

“Apple, owner of the iTunes Store, and Beats, which started a streaming-music service this year, are already competitors, Herring said today at the Bloomberg CFO Conference in New York. Their talks to combine in a reported $3.2 billion deal are a recognition of the ‘huge’ opportunity in online music, Herring said,” Palazzo reports. “‘People are trying to figure it out,’ Herring said. ‘We’ve done the best job to date and we think we can extend that lead.'”

“Apple is close to a deal to acquire Beats, people with knowledge of the situation said this month. Streaming services that have emerged have been unable to challenge Pandora, the biggest player in Web-based radio, Herring said,” Palazzo reports. “‘Almost every one has failed spectacularly,’ he said.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Mikey is whistling past the graveyard.

In the past year, Apple deposited more money into their couch cushions than Pandora will ever be worth.

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Apple could become most powerful record label in the world with Dr Dre, Jimmy Iovine onboard – May 13, 2014
Apple wants Beats for Jimmy Iovine, not bad headphones or an untested streaming music service – May 9, 2014

17 Comments

  1. “‘Almost every one has failed spectacularly,’ he said.”

    “No computer company is just going to walk in here and take over streaming music, something we’ve already been doing for YEARS…” – Mike Bravado/CEO.

    The Pantanic sails ahead without fear into the eery night mirage and what lies hidden within it.

  2. I think Tim Cook understands he needs to treat iTunes like Apple Retail. He needs a management team that really understands that business, a la Ron Johnson and now Angela Arhends.

  3. Yea they said that about MP3 players, smart phones, and Tablets. Apple took them all. Especially when they posted silly comments like these. Look at Dell, who said Apple should sell and close. Dell ended up selling and is a non player in the computer market.

    1. I believe you misread the sentence, Derek.

      “Apple, [owner of the iTunes Store], and Beats, [which started a streaming-music service this year], are already competitors”

      IOW –> “Apple and Beats are already competitors” with Pandora.

  4. P $5 B market cap, less than $1 B revenue, only TTM earnings minus $.14 The more free “subscribers” the deeper the hole they dig. Royalties are their Achilles heel.Beats looks cheap.

    1. You can only buy something someone is willing to sell. Perhaps Pandora had no interest in selling at a price Apple thought was reasonable for a company which makes very little money and whose expenses are rising faster than profits.

  5. I use Pandora. I like Pandora. But now that Apple and Pandora are competing, as a good Apple fan, I guess I’m expected to root for Pandora’s downfall so that Apple can reign supreme? F*** that. I hope there’s room for both products in the market.

    This isn’t like the moronic CEO’s of companies producing so-called “smart” phones in 2007, poo-poohing a clearly revolutionary product. Pandora may be something Apple can improve upon, but it’s not 2001-era MP3 players or 2007-era smartphones, clearly sub-par products that only thrived because no one had figured out how to do it right. Pandora’s a good product.

    I’m eager to see where Apple moves in the streaming music space, but for now, I’m not ready to jump on the “slam Pandora” bandwagon.

    ——RM

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