On Wednesday, Pandora announced it would acquire Ticketfly, which is popular with clubs and festivals in the United States, as well as Canada, for $450 million. The deal is a mix of cash and stock, and it will allow Pandora to expand its interests in providing services to artists.
Pandora said that by acquiring Ticketfly, it will allow its listeners to better find live music events. As of right now, Ticketfly works with 1,200 venues and even promoters in North America. At one point in time, the company entered the sporting events market.
Pandora may be the biggest player in the streaming music industry, and it has around 80 million users. Pandora does offer ad-free subscription service for $4 per month, but many users listen to the free, ad-supported of the version.
However, Pandora does struggle with profitability, as it has passed along most of the revenue it has made to music owners. Pandora actually lost $16 million in the second quarter of this year alone, and that is up from $11.8 million a year before.
