Pandora could raise $279.4M with sale of 12M in common stock

Streaming music service company Pandora Media is selling 10 million shares of common stock, which could net it about $230.8 million at $23.99 per share, according to an SEC filing released today.

The stock sale also includes 4 million shares from Pandora’s largest stakeholder Crosslink Capital Inc., which would reduce its total stake in the company from 16.5 percent to about 13 percent. Pandora is also offering an additional 2.1 million shares if there’s a demand for it, which would give the company a total of $279.4 million. (And it’s worth noting that the stock sale amount is much larger than the $90 million Pandora raised in its IPO.)

In the filing, Pandora said it plans to use the money from the stock sale for “general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures.” Additionally, it stated that it could use some of the money from the sale to acquire other businesses, products, or technologies — noting that the company has “no current agreements or understandings with respect to any such transactions.”

So, I’m guessing that means it isn’t planning to purchase another terrestrial radio station(s) to accompany the South Dakota radio station it purchased back in June. One thing that wasn’t specifically mentioned was if Pandora plans to use any of this money to help pay for the expensive content licensing, which is easily the company’s biggest expenditure. Pandora has repeatedly cited that music licensing fees are its biggest obstacle for turning a profit. That said, money from the stock sale could help Pandora grow instead of being hampered by those expensive licensing costs.

Last week, Pandora named Brian McAndrews as its new CEO. The stock sale could be part of Pandora’s efforts to give McAndrews the resources he needs to grow the company’s revenue. And as I previously stated, Pandora is primarily focused on grabbing a larger chunk of the advertising market for local terrestrial radio stations, which doesn’t come cheap.

Pandora declined to provide VentureBeat with any additional details beyond what was listed in the SEC document.

As for Wall Street, investors responded negatively to news of the stock sale, probably because it dilutes the value of current shares. Pandora shares were down about 4 percent to $22.95 in after hours trading.