Pandora raises IPO to $142 million, sets price range
By David Goldman @CNNMoneyTech June 2, 2011: 5:24 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Internet radio giant Pandora on Thursday signaled it is nearing its initial public offering, announcing a target price range of $7 to $9 per share price.
At $9 per share, Pandora's IPO would raise $142 million. That's up from the $100 million the company said it hoped to raise in its initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February.
Pandora also shed some additional light on its finances. The company brought in record revenue of $43 million during the first quarter, but it lost $6.7 million. Pandora has yet to turn a profit.
The Oakland, Calif., company's business is growing fast, averaging a new user every second. As of last April, Pandora had 90 million registered members, up from 80 million in February. Those members racked up 3.8 billion hours of listening to Pandora's song stream last year.
Founded in 2000 as the Music Genome Project, Pandora uses algorithms and user feedback to generate music recommendations for its listeners.
The company claims a 50% share of all Internet radio listening time among the top 20 stations and networks in the United States, according to a November 2010 report by audience measurement firm Ando Media.
Pandora offers listeners two options: A free, advertising-supported stream or a "premium" plan priced at $36 per year, which offers higher audio quality and no ads.
The New York Stock Exchange symbol that Pandora proposed is "P" -- a bold move, since one-letter symbols are typically reserved for industry giants.
Pandora is poised to IPO at a moment when investors are clamoring for shares in buzzed-around tech companies.
Groupon filed Thursday for an IPO intended to raise up to $750 million. Shares of business networking site LinkedIn (LNKD) more than doubled in its IPO last month, leaving the site with a $9 billion valuation. Shares of LinkedIn have cooled a bit since then but are still trading well above its $45-per-share IPO price.
Credit: CNN (www.cnn.com)
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