Pandora's IPO

They're still projecting that they'll lose money in the short term, but it really looks like the Pandora IPO will be coming very soon, and will be priced in the $7-$9 range. According to this morning's Tom Taylor column, it will be the fourth biggest radio company in the country...

Kurt Hanson says “Pandora’s AQH audience is roughly equal in size to that of a 3.0-share FM station in every market” – and its audience is growing rapidly. He figures that “Pandora's market capitalization at this share price would equal the total of the market caps of such pureplay radio broadcast companies as Entercom ($330 million), Cumulus ($180 million), Saga ($150 million), Radio One ($120 million), Emmis ($40 million) and several others, combined.” So Pandora, valued by this IPO at around $1.3 billion, would come in at #4, behind Sirius XM, Clear Channel and CBS Radio – and not that far behind CBS.

A quick translation for non-radio folks: A 3.0 share FM station in Chicago, for instance, would be one of the biggest stations in town. In a smaller market with fewer stations, not so much, but still a legitimate player. On the other hand, they're still not making money--which makes me wonder.