Report: Pandora Now Open To Talks With SiriusXM

Pandora has recently shifted its posture is now open to selling itself, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Pandora has expressed a willingness to engage to longtime suitor SiriusXM, and SiriusXM is expected to pursue a deal, the people said.

It is very early, one person referring to it being the first inning of the process, and there is no assurance that Pandora will find interested parties let alone reach a deal.
Shares of Pandora rose more than 8 percent after the news, while Liberty Media, the majority owner of SiriusXM, rose about 1 percent. Sirius XM Holdings fell nearly 2 percent.

Online streaming service Pandora has faced pressure to sell itself from activist investor Corvex Management, a hedge fund run by Keith Meister.

"Despite its many strengths, the company has been unable to date to translate its great product into a great business with an attractive public market valuation," Corvex, the largest single shareholder in the company, wrote in a letter earlier this year.

Corvex, along with two other shareholders, Matrix and Eminnence, have now unified around the idea of a sale, expressing their frustration to Pandora's chairman, sources said.

Meanwhile, Liberty Media chairman Greg Maffei has been public about the potential benefits of a tie-up of satellite radio company SiriusXM and Pandora.

"We think that the free space, whether it be commercial terrestrial radio, or Pandora, is still a very attractive space," Maffei said. "And we talked about how we'd like to find a way to participate. I think the streaming business, which Pandora seems to have doubled down on, is a very unattractive business. So there are parts of Pandora that could be attractive. And there's parts that we'd have questions about."