SiriusXM Takes $1B Pandora Hit Due To ‘Royalty Cost Structure’

SiriusXM added 909,000 new subscribers last year, bringing their total monthly self-pay subscriber base to a record of 30.9 million at the end of 2020.

Subs beat SiriusXM’s guidance for investors. The milestone was particularly impressive because COVID-19 curtailed commuting.

But with the good news came some bad as the broadcaster announced that it would take a $1 billion write-down for its Pandora streaming service.

According to SiriusXM, the loss is the result of Pandora’s operating performance, in particular, its royalty cost structure with content providers.

SiriusXM also shared:

• SiriusXM self-pay net subscriber additions of approximately 800,000,
• Total revenue of approximately $8.35 billion,
• Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $2.575 billion, and
• Free cash flow of approximately $1.6 billion.