Wall Street remains mostly unimpressed, but by music industry standards, this is a moment. On Tuesday, Pandora revealed something remarkable: profitability, at least for a fleeting three months. During its latest quarterly wrap-up today, Pandora (P) reported a slim profit of $638,000, a reversal from a year-ago decline of $1.77 million.
The number translates into break-even on a per-share basis, and solidly beats a year-ago per-share loss of 15-cents. And, it was enough to beat analyst expectations, thanks to more-than-doubled revenues of $75 million.
That in turn was based on a monstrous total of 2.1 billion listening hours - over a mere three-month period (ending October 31st, which is technically 'Q3Y12' on Pandora's books).
All of which is giving Pandora a greater share of the US-based internet radio pie. But it also helps to validate Pandora's belief that on-demand platforms like Spotify are not creating a usage dent. In fact, the impact may be negligible: Pandora's active users now stand at 40 million according to the company, a 65 percent year-over-year gain.
On top of that, Pandora is starting to 'crush it' when it comes to US-based internet radio share.
On the grander stage, Pandora now claims a 4.3 percent share of overall radio listening (terrestrial + internet + whatever), more than double the piece from last year. All of which looks quite impressive, though shares actually declined on the news, thanks to a forecast that includes more losses in the current quarter. Unfortunately, this is one IPO that's officially lost its sizzle, but not its prospects for long-term survival.
The complete earnings report is here.
Comments Closed
Spotify moving in Tuesday, November 22, 2011
That's why Spotify is going to copy them and do internet 'radio' when they make their big announcement in a week.
Of course, I could be totally wrong...
@mediajorge Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Jorge
Well, look at that...
Profitable for whom? Thursday, November 24, 2011
I will be interested when it becomes profitable for professional musicians. Until then, it's just white noise to me.
@MADDragonMusic Monday, November 28, 2011
MAD Dragon Records
PANDORA IS NOW PROFITABLE!
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