Things never get dull for the country's lone satellite-radio provider. Shares of Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) moved higher after three straight weeks of declines, climbing 0.5% to close at $3.72. The media darling's slight dip was in line with Nasdaq's 0.5% surge on the week.
There was more going on beyond the share-price gyrations, though. Sirius XM shareholders continued to decry the low buyout premium Liberty Media (FWONA) is offering. And in streaming news, Pandora (P) introduced personalized station recommendations in the Pandora mobile app.
Let's take a closer look.
The pursuit of Liberty
It's getting harder for Liberty Media to justify the small premium it's offering in acquiring the Sirius XM shares it doesn't already own. Shareholders and class action lawsuits are starting to spring up to either keep the deal from happening or to get Liberty Media to pay more for the shares.
This is just the beginning of what should be an interesting few months as the matter gets put up to a vote. It seems unlikely that Liberty Media will get a majority of the shares that it doesn't own to accept the deal for non-voting Liberty Media shares.
Pandora takes things personally
Pandora has made a cozy living out of offering up personalized recommendations, but it's beefing up its mobile iOS and Android apps by rolling out personalized station recommendations.
This is an important evolutionary step, especially since Beats Music -- a new celebrity-backed platform that prides itself on artist-curated playlists -- is set to launch on Tuesday.
Sirius XM has been trying to be a bigger player in the streaming market, but it's overpriced as a standalone service. There's a market to be made by pitching its streaming platform as a cheaper add-on to receiver-based subscribers, and that's why investors need to keep an eye on what Pandora, Spotify, iTunes Radio, and now Beats Music are offering.
