Brian McAndrews has been on a Wall Street honeymoon. Since he became chief executive officer of Pandora Media in September, the stock price of the music streaming service has jumped about 60 percent, tacking on roughly $3 billion in market value, and the company brought in $400 million from a share sale.
But even as analysts boost their ratings on its stock, Pandora continues to struggle with the same obstacles it’s been dealing with for years. It remains enmeshed in a protracted battle with the music industry over royalty payments, and it’s not yet profitable. On March 6 the company, which makes its money from ad sales and ad-free subscriptions, reported its slowest-ever increase in monthly listener hours. Shares have fallen about 10 percent since then. Analysts estimate that sales growth will slow to 38 percent this year and 30 percent the next, after revenue more than doubled in 2013.
