Pandora raises IPO price

WASHINGTON: Internet radio star Pandora is turning up the volume on its initial public offering.

Pandora, in a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, set a debut price of between $10 and $12 a share, up from the previous $7 to $9 and giving the offering a maximum value of $202.6 million, up from $141 million.

The Oakland, California-based music streaming service, which plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "P," also said it was raising the number of shares to be sold by one million to 14.7 million.

Pandora has said it is going public in a bid to get the money it needs to grow and become profitable, and to deal with an accumulated operating deficit.

Pandora's revenue has been insufficient to offset the cost of paying royalties on songs, and getting big enough to tip the balance with more paid advertising is essential, the startup indicated.

In the latest filing, Pandora said it had more than 90 million registered users in April.

Pandora is available for the iPhone, the Blackberry, the Palm Pre, and devices running Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating systems, but does not currently provide service outside the United States.

The service is hoping to take advantage of recent investor enthusiasm for technology stocks on Wall Street.

Business-oriented social network LinkedIn launched on the New York Stock Exchange on May 19 and saw its stock price more than double on the first day.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011