Pandora To Shed Ticketfly?

Pandora Media is said to be considering hiving off Ticketfly, fewer than two years after acquiring the ticketing company, to better concentrate on its music-streaming core service.

– Pandora

Pandora is still looking for a buyer of the entire company, but considers a sale of Ticketfly to be an option if that doesn’t happen, Bloomberg reports, citing “people familiar with the matter.”

Investors have questioned Pandora’s strategy, including its purchase of Ticketfly, as its losses mount and stock price tumbles. Pandora recently announced a $150 million investment from private equity firm KKR & Co. and creation of a new board committee to make an acquisition more attractive.

Pandora acquired Ticketfly, founded by Andrew Dreskin, in 2015 for $335 million. The company hoped to use its data on music fans in order to sell more concert tickets to them across the hundreds of venues serviced by Ticketfly.

The streaming service has faced increasing pressure in recent years from the rapid growth of Spotify and Apple Music, as well as the massive investments made by Amazon and Google in streaming music.