By Sam Lefebvre • Jan 29 2019

Pandora Media shareholders voted Tuesday to approve its $3.5 billion acquisition by satellite radio company Sirius XM, adding the struggling webcaster and one of Oakland's largest employers to the portfolio of major Donald Trump and Republican Party donors at parent company Liberty Media.

The closely watched acquisition, announced in September and expected to close by March, creates what the companies call the world’s largest audio entertainment company.

Pandora has more than 70 million listeners, mostly on its ad-supported free tier, but the company has long lost money and lately fallen behind on-demand streaming competitors such as Spotify and Apple Music. Sirius, by contrast, is profitable with more than 30 million subscribers.

The deal consolidates Pandora and Sirius XM under the control of Liberty Media, a Colorado company owned and run by conservative donors, at a time when music industry political giving and tech ties to the Trump administration are increasingly scrutinized. Policy experts also say the merger empowers a company that’s aggressively fought to suppress royalty payments for artists and copyright holders.

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