(Bloomberg) -- Pandora Media Inc., the struggling online-radio service, will expand operations in Atlanta because it's cheaper there than in its home city of Oakland, California.
The plan is “a significant opportunity to add instrumental talent in a region with lower costs than the company's headquarters,” Pandora said Wednesday in a statement. Pandora, which had almost 2,500 employees at the end of 2016, is also cutting 5 percent of its workforce as part of a plan to save $45 million a year.
Chief Executive Officer Roger Lynch, who joined in September, is trying to help Pandora adapt as listeners gravitate away from online radio to on-demand streaming services like Spotify, which let them create their own playlists and pick the artists and songs they want to hear.
Pandora, which went public at $16 a share in 2011, rose 3.1 percent in early trading Thursday to $4.93. The company reports fourth-quarter results on Feb. 21.
Georgia has a corporate tax rate of 6 percent, compared with 8.84 percent in California. Pandora is one of the largest employers in Oakland.
To contact the reporter on this story: Crayton Harrison in Los Angeles at tharrison5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5@bloomberg.net, Jessica Brice
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