Barrington: Pandora Media Inc. Bid Unlikely In 2015

Pandora Media Inc. P is unlikely to be acquired at least until royalty negotiations are completed, an analyst said Thursday. "I'd be surprise anybody would acquire it with all that uncertaintly," Barrington Research's Jeff Houston told Benzinga in an exclusive interview. Benzinga asked Houston about unconfirmed speculation that appeared Thursday that pop star Jay-Z might make a bid on Pandora. Reuters reported Friday that Jay-Z will acquire Scandinavia music streamer Aspiro for $56 million. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/13/aspiro-ma-jay-z-idUSL5N0WF0IH20150313 Pandora has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion. "I'm not too familiar with Jay-Z," Houston said. "But yeah, if he's got the cash, then he could certainly make an offer." Wealth-X in December estimated that the Jay-Z's net worth combined with that of his wife, the pop star Beyoncé, is about $950 million. http://www.wealthx.com/articles/2014/wealth-x-reveals-the-worlds-richest-recording-artists/ Google Inc. GOOGL, Facebook Inc. FB and Sirius XM Holdings Inc. have previously been mentioned as potential Pandora buyers, Houston said. Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.