This Day In Market History: Pandora Goes Public

Each day, Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that occurred on this date.

What Happened? On this day in 2011, Pandora (OTC: PANDY) went public.

Where The Market Was: The Dow closed at 11,897.27. The S&P 500 traded at around 1,265.42.

What Else Was Going On In The World? In 2011, the U.S. military officially repealed its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning homosexuals in the military. The Occupy Wall Street movement gathered in New York to protest income inequality. A U.S. postage stamp cost 44 cents.

First Music Streaming IPO: Pandora went public at a price of $16 per share and a market cap of $2.6 billion. Life on the public market wasn't particularly kind to the music streaming giant.

Pandora struggled to prove to Wall Street that its model can be profitable. In the first quarter of 2018, Pandora reported a net loss of $131.7 million. Rising competition from Spotify Technology SA (NYSE: SPOT), Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and others made Pandora’s uphill climb even steeper.

In February 2019, Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI) completed a $3.5-billion acquisition of Pandora Media, making it "the world's largest audio entertainment company."