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PANDORA MEDIA, INC. FORM 10-K TABLE OF CONTENTS
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549



FORM 10-K




ý

 

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year ended January 31, 2013

or

o

 

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                to

Commission File Number: 001-35198



Pandora Media, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
  94-3352630
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

2101 Webster Street, Suite 1650
Oakland, CA

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

94612
(Zip Code)

(510) 451-4100
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Title of each class   Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $0.0001 par value   The New York Stock Exchange



          Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ý    No o

          Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes o    No ý

          Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý    No o

          Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (Section 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ý    No o

          Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (Section 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ý

          Indicate by a check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definition of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer ý   Accelerated filer o   Non-accelerated filer o
(Do not check if a
smaller reporting company)
  Smaller reporting company o

          Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o    No ý

          The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of July 31, 2012(the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second quarter), based on the closing price of such stock on The New York Stock Exchange on such date was approximately $725 million. This calculation excludes the shares of common stock held by executive officers, directors and stockholders whose ownership exceeds 5% outstanding at July 31, 2012. This calculation does not reflect a determination that such persons are affiliates for any other purposes.

          On March 13, 2013 the registrant had 172,896,461 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

          Portions of the registrant's Definitive Proxy Statement relating to its 2013 annual meeting of stockholders, to be filed subsequent to the date hereof, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K where indicated. Such Definitive Proxy Statement will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission not later than 120 days after the conclusion of the registrant's fiscal year ended January 31, 2013. Except with respect to information specifically incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Definitive Proxy Statement is not deemed to be filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

   


Table of Contents


PANDORA MEDIA, INC.
FORM 10-K
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

 

Item1

     

Business

    2  

Item1A

     

Risk Factors

    13  

Item1B

     

Unresolved Staff Comments

    41  

Item 2

     

Properties

    41  

Item 3

     

Legal Proceedings

    41  

Item 4

     

Mine Safety Disclosures

    41  

PART II

 

Item 5

     

Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

    42  

Item 6

     

Selected Financial Data

    44  

Item 7

     

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

    46  

Item 7A

     

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

    65  

Item 8

     

Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

    67  

Item 9

     

Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

    101  

Item 9A

     

Controls and Procedures

    101  

Item 9B

     

Other Information

    101  

PART III

 

Item 10

     

Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

    102  

Item 11

     

Executive Compensation

    102  

Item 12

     

Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

    102  

Item 13

     

Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

    102  

Item 14

     

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

    102  

PART IV

 

Item 15

     

Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

    103  

Signatures

    107  

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND INDUSTRY DATA

        This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains "forward-looking statements" that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including, but not limited to, statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions, strategies, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected expenses and plans and objectives of management. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "project," "will," "would," "should," "could," "can," "predict," "potential," "continue," "objective," or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about future events and involve known risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievement to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below, and those discussed in the section titled "Risk Factors" included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements. In addition, the industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors including those described in the section entitled "Risk Factors." These and other factors could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

        Some of the industry and market data contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based on independent industry publications, including those generated by Triton Digital Media or "Triton" and International Data Corporation or "IDC" or other publicly available information. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations. Although we believe that each source is reliable as of its respective date, we have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of this information.

        As used herein, "Pandora," the "Company," "we," "our," and similar terms refer to Pandora Media, Inc., unless the context indicates otherwise.

        "Pandora" and other trademarks of ours appearing in this report are our property. This report contains additional trade names and trademarks of other companies. We do not intend our use or display of other companies' trade names or trademarks to imply an endorsement or sponsorship of us by such companies, or any relationship with any of these companies.

PART I.

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

Overview

        Pandora is the leader in internet radio in the United States, offering a personalized experience for each of our listeners. We have pioneered a new form of radio—one that uses intrinsic qualities of music to initially create stations and then adapts playlists in real-time based on the individual feedback of each listener. As of January 31, 2013, we had approximately 175 million registered users, which we define as the total number of accounts that have been created for our service at period end. As of January 31, 2013 approximately 140 million registered users have accessed Pandora through smartphones and tablets. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013, we streamed 14.01 billion hours of radio and as of January 31, 2013, we had 65.6 million active users during the prior 30 day period. According to a December 2012 report by Triton, we have more than a 70% share of internet radio

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among the top 20 stations and networks in the United States. Since we launched our free, advertising-supported radio service in 2005 our listeners have created over 4.0 billion stations.

        In June 2012, we entered into or activated agreements which allow Pandora to launch in New Zealand, Australia and the territories associated with the two countries. The arrangements with PPNZ Music Licensing Limited, which represents recording artists and record companies, and APRA/AMCOS, which represents songwriters, composers and publishers, have not had a material effect on our results of operations to date.

Our Service

        Unlike traditional radio stations that broadcast the same content at the same time to all of their listeners, we enable each of our listeners to create up to 100 personalized stations. The Music Genome Project and our playlist generating algorithms power our ability to predict listener music preferences, play music content suited to the tastes of each individual listener and introduce listeners to music they will love. When a listener enters a single song, artist or genre to start a station—a process we call seeding—the Pandora service instantly generates a station that plays music we think that listener will enjoy. Based on listener reactions to the songs we pick, we further tailor the station to match the listener's preferences.

        We currently provide the Pandora service through two models:

    Free Service.  Our free service is advertising-based and allows listeners access to our music and comedy catalogs and personalized playlist generating system for free across all of our delivery platforms. In September 2011, we effectively eliminated the 40 hour per month listening cap on desktop and laptop computers by increasing the cap to 320 hours of listening per month, which almost none of our listeners exceed. We have the right to assess a $0.99 fee to listeners who exceed the new cap, but this has not generated, and is not expected to generate any meaningful revenue. In fiscal years 2010, 2011 and 2012 listeners on other platforms had access to unlimited hours of free music and comedy. Starting in March 2013, we instituted a 40 hour per month listening cap on mobile and other connected devices. Listeners who reach this limit may continue to use our ad supported service on these devices by paying $0.99 for the remainder of the month, may listen to our ad supported service on their desktop or laptop computers, or may purchase annual or monthly Pandora One subscriptions for $36 per year or approximately $4 per month, respectively.

    Pandora One.  Pandora One currently eliminates all external advertising from any device used to access our service. Pandora One allows unlimited listening time and provides access to higher quality 192 kbps audio on supported devices. In fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013, subscription services and other revenue accounted for approximately 13%, 13% and 12%, respectively, of our total revenue.

        Beyond song delivery, listeners can discover more about the music they hear by researching song lyrics, reading the history of their favorite artists, viewing artist photos and buying albums and songs from Amazon or iTunes. Our service also incorporates community social networking features. Listeners can create and customize personal listener profile pages to connect with other listeners. Our music feed feature enables a real-time, centralized stream for listeners to view the music that their social connections are experiencing and to provide and receive recommendations for songs, albums and artists. Listeners can also share their stations across other social media outlets and through email by using our share feature or by distributing our individualized station URLs. In addition, our website is integrated with Facebook's instant personalization capability, allowing our listeners to share their stations and music preferences with their Facebook friends and enabling us to make additional music recommendations. In October 2012, we announced the redesign of our mobile listener interface,

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Pandora 4.0, on both IOS and Android smartphones which included expanding listening functionality, artist pages, personal music profiles and sharing capabilities.

Distribution and Partnerships

        One key element of our strategy is to make the Pandora service available everywhere that there is internet connectivity. To this end, we make the Pandora service available through a variety of distribution channels. In addition to streaming our service to traditional computers, we have developed Pandora mobile device applications or "apps" for smartphones such as Android, Blackberry and the iPhone, and for tablets including the iPad, Android tablets, and Amazon Kindle Fire tablets. We distribute those mobile apps free to listeners via app stores. Pandora is now available on more than 1,000 integrations, including automobiles, automotive aftermarket devices and consumer electronic devices. In the consumer electronics space, more than 760 consumer electronics devices from third-party distribution partners such as Samsung, Roku and DirecTV make Pandora available in the home. Many automotive partners, including Alpine Electronics, Audiovox, Clarion, JVC, Kenwood, Pioneer Sony, incorporate our application into aftermarket radios. We have also developed relationships with major automobile manufacturers and are currently available on vehicle models sold by Acura, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, MINI, Nissan, Scion, Suzuki and Toyota. Additionally, Chrysler, Infiniti and Kia have publicly announced their plans to offer Pandora integration on future vehicles. Holden Ltd., a subsidiary of General Motors, has also launched the first in-car system in Australia to offer full compatibility with Pandora. Under the arrangements, we receive no financial compensation and recognize no revenue from these automotive distribution partners.

Advertising

        We generate revenue primarily from advertising. In fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013, advertising revenue accounted for approximately 87%, 87% and 88% of our total revenue, respectively, and we expect that advertising will comprise a substantial majority of revenue for the foreseeable future.

        We offer a comprehensive suite of display, audio and video advertising products across our traditional computer, mobile and connected device platforms. Our advertising products allow both national and local advertisers to target and connect with listeners based on attributes including age, gender, zip code and content preferences, and we provide analytics for our advertisers detailing campaign performance.

    Display Advertising.  Our display products offer advertisers opportunities to maximize exposure to our listeners through our desktop and mobile service interfaces, which are divided between our tuner containing our player and "now playing" information, and the information space surrounding our tuner. Our display ads include industry standard banner ads of various sizes and placements depending on platform and listener interaction.

    Audio Advertising.  Our audio advertising products allow custom audio messages to be delivered between songs during short ad interludes. Audio ads are available across all of our delivery platforms. On supported platforms, the audio ads can be accompanied by display ads to further enhance advertisers' messages.

    Video Advertising.  Our video advertising products allow delivery of rich branded messages to further engage listeners through in-banner click-initiated videos, videos that automatically play when a listener changes stations or skips a song and opt-in videos that pause the music and cover the tuner.

        Our advertising strategy focuses on developing our core suite of display, audio and video advertising products and marketing these products to advertisers for delivery across traditional

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computer, mobile and other connected device platforms such as automobiles and consumer electronics. We believe that our ability to run multi-platform ad campaigns enables advertisers to deliver their advertising messages to listeners anytime and anywhere they enjoy music and comedy, providing a unique advertising opportunity that is central to our achieving and sustaining profitability. As listenership on our mobile platforms has grown more rapidly than on our other platforms, we have sought to improve our advertising products for the mobile environment to better enable us to develop and market multi-platform advertising solutions. For example, our introduction of audio ads was driven by the growth of mobile listenership. In addition, our banner advertising products for display on mobile devices include standard banner ads displayed on the Pandora app "now-playing" screen, "welcome" screen banners which are the first to display upon launch of the app, and other multi-functional banners of different shapes and sizes. Further, advertisers can create "drag-and-drop" stations where listeners select among branded icons and drag and drop the selected icon to automatically launch a station. We have also incorporated rich media touch screen initiated functionality, or "tap-to" technology, to enhance connections between our mobile listeners and advertisers. "Tap-to" technology allows mobile listeners to expand banner ads, launch videos, receive advertiser emails, dial advertiser phone numbers, download applications and access links to advertiser websites, offering increased listener and advertiser engagement.

        Our display, audio and video advertising products can be designed and modified by us and advertisers to create advertising campaigns tailored across all of our high volume delivery platforms to fit specific advertiser needs. For example, our advertisers can create custom "branded" stations from our music library that can be accessed by our listeners, as well as engage listeners by allowing them to personalize the branded stations through listener-controlled variables.

Sales and Marketing

        We organize our sales force into multiple teams that are each focused on selling advertising across our traditional computer, mobile and other connected device platforms. Teams are located in our Oakland, California headquarters, in regional sales offices in Chicago, Illinois; Santa Monica, California; and New York, New York and local sales offices throughout the country.

        Our marketing team is charged with amplifying Pandora's brand message to grow awareness and drive listening hours. We organize the marketing team into three groups focused on communications, marketing analytics, and brand marketing.

Our Technologies

    Music Genome Project

        The Music Genome Project is the foundation of our personalized playlist generating system and has been built by our music analysts to select songs tailored to an individual's music tastes. The Music Genome Project database was developed one song at a time, by evaluating and cataloging each song's particular attributes. Our music catalog currently consists of over 1,000,000 uniquely analyzed songs from over 100,000 artists, spanning over 500 genres and sub-genres ranging from classical, jazz, rock, pop and hip hop to post punk, Celtic and flamenco. Our musical catalog includes both well-known and little-known music and incorporates listener suggestions and independent submissions. Music is assessed on the basis of value to our catalog and we do not accept money or any form of consideration from artists or their representatives for inclusion in the Music Genome Project.

        Once we select music to become part of our catalog, our music analysts genotype it by examining up to 450 attributes including objectively observable metrics such as tone and tempo, as well as subjective characteristics, such as lyrics, vocal texture and emotional intensity. We employ rigorous hiring and training standards for selecting our music analysts, who typically have four-year degrees in

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music theory, composition or performance, and we provide them with intensive training in the Music Genome Project's precise methodology.

    Comedy Genome Project

        Our Comedy Genome Project leverages similar technology to the technology underlying the Music Genome Project, allowing a listener to choose a favorite comedian or a genre as a seed to start a station and then give feedback to personalize that station. Our comedy collection includes content from more than 1,500 comedians with more than 20,000 tracks.

    Our Other Core Innovations

        In addition to the Music Genome Project, we have developed other proprietary technologies to improve delivery of the Pandora service, enhance the listener experience and expand our reach. Our other core innovations include:

        Playlist Generating Algorithms.    We have developed complex algorithms that determine which songs play and in what order on each personalized station. Developed since 2004, these algorithms combine the Music Genome Project with the individual and collective feedback we receive from our listeners in order to deliver a personalized listening experience.

        Pandora User Experience.    We have invested in ways to enable our listeners to play music they love as quickly as possible. To this end, we have developed a number of innovative approaches, including our autocomplete station creation feature, which predicts and generates a list of the most likely musical starting points as a listener begins to enter a favorite station, song or artist.

        Pandora Streaming Network.    We have developed our own infrastructure for streaming music content to a diverse network of devices and destinations. Our streaming network is hosted from Pandora owned and operated infrastructure in data centers across the country. This network has allowed us to deliver a high quality streaming experience to a broad collection of devices at significant cost savings relative to outsourced third-party solutions.

        Pandora Mobile Streaming.    We have designed a sophisticated system for streaming music content to mobile devices. This system involves a combination of music coding programs that are optimized for mobile devices as well as algorithms designed to address the intricacies of reliable delivery over diverse mobile network technologies. For example, these algorithms are designed to maintain a continuous stream to a listener even in circumstances where the mobile data network may be unreliable.

        Automotive Protocol.    We have developed an automotive protocol to facilitate increased availability of the Pandora service in automobiles. Through the automotive protocol, automobile manufacturers, their suppliers and makers of aftermarket audio systems can easily connect dash-mounted interface elements to the Pandora app running on a smartphone. This allows us to deliver the Pandora service to listeners via their existing smartphone, while leveraging the automobile itself for application command, display and control functionalities.

        Pandora API.    As part of our effort to make the Pandora service available everywhere our listeners want it, we have developed an application programming interface, which we call the Pandora API. Through our partnerships with manufacturers of consumer electronics products, we have used this technology to bring the Pandora experience to connected devices throughout the home.

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Competition

    Competition for Listeners

        We compete for the time and attention of our listeners with other content providers on the basis of a number of factors, including quality of experience, relevance, acceptance and diversity of content, ease of use, price, accessibility, perceptions of ad load, brand awareness and reputation. We also compete for listeners on the basis of our presence and visibility as compared with other providers that deliver content through the internet, mobile devices and consumer products. We believe that we compete favorably on these factors. For additional details on risks related to competition for listeners, please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors."

        We offer our service at no cost or through a low cost subscription plan through web, mobile and consumer electronic platforms however, many of our current and potential future competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories and larger marketing budgets, as well as substantially greater financial, technical and other resources.

        Our competitors include:

        Other Radio Providers.    We compete for listeners with broadcast radio providers, including terrestrial radio providers such as Clear Channel and CBS and satellite radio providers such as Sirius XM. Many broadcast radio companies own large numbers of radio stations or other media properties. Many terrestrial radio stations have begun broadcasting digital signals, which provide high quality audio transmission. In addition, unlike participants in the emerging internet radio market, terrestrial and satellite radio providers, as aggregate entities of their subsidiary providers, generally enjoy larger established audiences and longer operating histories. Broadcast and satellite radio companies enjoy a significant cost advantage because they pay a much lower percentage of revenue for transmissions of sound recordings. Broadcast radio pays no royalties for its terrestrial use of sound recordings, and satellite radio pays only 9% of revenue for its satellite transmissions of sound recordings. By contrast, Pandora incurred content acquisition costs representing 55.9% of revenue for our internet transmissions of sound recordings during the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013. We also compete directly with other emerging non-interactive online radio providers such as CBS's Last.fm, Clear Channel's iheartradio and Slacker Personal Radio. We could face additional competition if known incumbents in the digital media space choose to enter the internet radio market.

        Other Audio Entertainment Providers.    We face competition from providers of interactive on-demand audio content and pre-recorded entertainment, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, RDIO, Rhapsody, Spotify, and Amazon that allow listeners to select the audio content that they stream or purchase. This interactive on-demand content, is accessible in automobiles and homes, using portable players, mobile phones and other wireless devices. The audio entertainment marketplace continues to rapidly evolve, providing our listeners with a growing number of alternatives and new media platforms.

        Other Forms of Media.    We compete for the time and attention of our listeners with providers of other forms of in-home and mobile entertainment. To the extent existing or potential listeners choose to watch cable television, stream video from on-demand services such as Hulu, VEVO or YouTube or play interactive video games on their home-entertainment system, computer or mobile phone rather than listen to the Pandora service, these content services pose a competitive threat.

    Competition for Advertisers

        We compete with other content providers for a share of our advertising customers' overall marketing budgets. We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including perceived return on investment, effectiveness and relevance of our advertising products, pricing structure and ability to deliver large volumes or precise types of ads to targeted demographics. We believe that our ability to

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deliver targeted and relevant ads across a wide range of platforms allows us to compete favorably on the basis of these factors and justify a long-term profitable pricing structure. However, the market for online advertising solutions is intensely competitive and rapidly changing, and with the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. For additional details on risks related to competition for advertisers, please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors."

        Our competitors include:

        Other Internet Companies.    The market for online advertising is becoming increasingly competitive as advertisers are allocating increasing amounts of their overall marketing budgets to web-based advertising. We compete for online advertisers with other internet companies, including major internet portals, search engine companies and social media sites. Large internet companies with greater brand recognition, such as Facebook, Google, MSN and Yahoo! have large direct sales staffs, substantial proprietary advertising technology and extensive web traffic and consequently enjoy significant competitive advantages.

        Broadcast Radio.    Terrestrial broadcast and to a lesser extent satellite radio are significant sources of competition for advertising dollars. These radio providers deliver ads across platforms that are more familiar to traditional advertisers than the internet might be. Advertisers may be reluctant to migrate advertising dollars to our internet-based platform.

        Other Traditional Media Providers.    We compete for advertising dollars with other traditional media companies in television and print, such as ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, cable television channel providers, national newspapers such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and some regional newspapers. These traditional outlets present us with a number of competitive challenges in attracting advertisers, including large established audiences, longer operating histories, greater brand recognition and a growing presence on the internet.

    Content, Copyrights and Royalties

        To secure the rights to stream music content over the internet, we must obtain licenses from, and pay royalties to, copyright owners of both sound recordings and musical compositions. These royalty and licensing arrangements strongly influence our business operations. We stream spoken word comedy content, for which the underlying literary works are not currently entitled to eligibility for licensing by any performing rights organization for the United States. Rather, pursuant to industry-wide custom and practice, this content is performed absent a specific license from any such performing rights organization. We do, however, obtain licenses to stream the sound recordings of comedy content under federal statutory licenses as more fully described under the section captioned "Sound Recordings" below, which in some instances we have opted to augment with direct agreements with the licensors of such sound recordings.

    Sound Recordings

        Our largest royalty expense arises from our use of sound recordings. We obtain performance rights licenses and pay performance rights royalties to the copyright owners of sound recordings, typically performing artists and recording companies, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, (the "DMCA"). Under federal statutory licenses created by the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995, (the "DPRA"), and DMCA, we are permitted to stream any lawfully released sound recordings and to make reproductions of these recordings on our computer servers, without having to separately negotiate and obtain direct licenses with each individual copyright owner. These statutory licenses are granted to us on the condition that we operate in compliance with the rules of statutory licenses and pay the applicable royalty rates to SoundExchange, the non-profit organization

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designated by the Copyright Royalty Board, or CRB, to collect and distribute royalties under these statutory licenses. We believe we are not an "interactive service" as defined in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (the "U.S. Copyright Act"). As a non-interactive service, we are not allowed to stream a particular song "on-demand" and are otherwise obliged to limit the ways in which we stream music to our listeners. As such we are required, among other things, to restrict the number of songs that are played on a particular station from a particular artist or album within certain time periods.

        The rates we pay to SoundExchange for non-interactive streaming of sound recordings pursuant to these licenses are privately negotiated or set by the CRB. In 2007, the CRB set royalty rates for non-interactive, online streaming of music that were extremely high. In response to the lobbying efforts of internet webcasters, including Pandora, Congress passed the Webcaster Settlement Acts of 2008 and 2009, which permitted webcasters to negotiate alternative royalty rates directly with SoundExchange outside of the scope of the CRB process. In July 2009, certain webcasters reached a settlement agreement with SoundExchange establishing a royalty structure more favorable to us that by its terms will apply through 2015. This settlement agreement is commonly known as the "Pureplay Settlement." Once the rates and terms of the Pureplay Settlement came into effect in July 2009, any qualifying commercial webcaster could elect to avail itself of those rates and terms by filing an initial notice, followed by annual notices, of election with SoundExchange through 2015. In July 2009, we elected to be subject to the Pureplay Settlement and timely filed notices of election with SoundExchange for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. We currently intend to continue to make such elections through 2015.

        The table below sets forth the per performance rates for the calendar years 2012 to 2015 (1) as established by the CRB, which we have opted not to pay, (2) under the Pureplay Settlement applicable to our non-subscription, ad-supported service and (3) under the Pureplay Settlement applicable to our subscription service.

Year
  CRB Rate   Pureplay Rate
(non-subscription)*
  Pureplay Rate
(subscription)
 

2012

  $ 0.00210   $ 0.00110   $ 0.00200  

2013

    0.00210     0.00120     0.00220  

2014

    0.00230     0.00130     0.00230  

2015

    0.00230     0.00140     0.00250  

*
The rate applicable to our non-subscription service is the greater of the per performance rates set forth in this column or 25% of our U.S. gross revenue.

        As reflected in the table above, we currently pay per-performance rates for streaming of sound recordings via our Pandora One subscription service that are higher than the per-performance rates for our free, non-subscription service. As a result, we may incur higher royalty expenses to SoundExchange for a listener that subscribes to Pandora One as compared to a listener that uses our free, non-subscription service, even if both listeners listen for the same amount of time.

        Proceedings to establish rates that will be applicable to our service after 2015, known as Webcasting IV proceedings, are expected to commence in January 2014. While we did not participate in the prior proceedings to establish royalty rates for non-interactive webcasting services, we currently expect to participate in the Webcasting IV proceedings. At that time, webcasters, including us, will have the opportunity to enter into voluntary settlement negotiations with SoundExchange, and failing that, will participate in formal hearings before the CRB to establish rates.

        We believe that our participation in the Webcasting IV proceedings as a mature player in an industry that will have evolved significantly since the prior proceedings may enhance our ability to negotiate rates on economically favorable terms. However, if we are unable to successfully negotiate rates for the 2016-2020 period, we will be forced to litigate those rates before the CRB. Any such litigation would be costly, and the outcome of such litigation would be uncertain. If the Webcasting IV

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proceedings establish rates applicable to us that represent incremental increases in the per performance rates set forth as "CRB Rates" in the table above for the 2016-2020 period and there is no percentage of revenue option available to us, then our content acquisition costs could substantially increase, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results. For additional details on risks related to the rate-setting process, please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors." We are unable to estimate the direct and indirect costs of participating in the Webcaster IV proceedings, but we expect those costs to be significant.

        The existing laws and regulations governing performance royalties applicable to commercial webcasters are subject to change. For example, there is no guarantee that the royalty structure that emerged from the Pureplay Settlement will be available upon its expiration. In addition, performers and owners of sound recordings are seeking compensation for the public performance of sound recordings from terrestrial broadcasters who are not currently required to pay royalties for non-subscription broadcast transmissions. If these performers and owners are successful, terrestrial radio broadcasters will, for the first time, be subject to payment of sound recording performance royalties, a development that could potentially have a positive impact on our ability to compete with terrestrial radio broadcasters. Further, the Copyright Office has issued a report with respect to whether sound recordings released in the United States prior to January 1972 (the time at which federal copyright protection was first afforded to sound recordings), should be covered under federal copyright law. The report recommended that federal copyright protection should apply to sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972. It proposed special provisions to address issues such as copyright ownership, term of protection, termination of transfers and copyright registration. We do not expect any potential resulting legislation to have a material impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We are not aware of any other proposed or pending changes to laws and regulations relating to performance royalties applicable to commercial webcasters such as us.

    Musical Works

        We also incur royalty expenses from our use of musical works embodied in sound recordings, with respect to which we must obtain public performance licenses and pay performance rights royalties to copyright owners of those musical works (typically, songwriters and music publishers) or their agents. Copyright owners of musical works most often rely on intermediaries known as performance rights organizations to negotiate so-called "blanket" licenses with copyright users, collect royalties under such licenses and distribute them to copyright owners. We have obtained public performance licenses from, and pay license fees to, the three major performance rights organizations in the United States: the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, Broadcast Music, Inc., or BMI and SESAC, Inc., or SESAC.

        We currently operate under a final agreement with SESAC, which automatically renews yearly, but is subject to termination by either party in accordance with its terms at the end of each yearly term. The SESAC rate is subject to small annual increases. There is no guarantee that the license and associated royalty rate available to us now with respect to SESAC will be available to us in the future.

        In 2012, we elected to terminate our prior agreement with BMI effective as of December 31, 2012 because we believed the royalty rates sought by BMI were excessive. Notwithstanding our termination of this BMI agreement, the musical works administered by BMI are licensed to us pursuant to the provisions of a consent decree which BMI entered into with the U.S. Department of Justice. Rates to be paid to BMI can be set, in the absence of a negotiated agreement, by the rate court established pursuant to such consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The rates to be paid to BMI may be adjusted retroactively, either by mutual agreement or order of the rate court.

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        In 2010, we elected to terminate our prior agreement with ASCAP as of December 31, 2010 because we believed that the royalty rates sought by ASCAP were excessive. Notwithstanding our termination of this ASCAP agreement, the musical works administered by ASCAP are licensed to us pursuant to the provisions of a consent decree which ASCAP entered into with the U.S. Department of Justice. Rates to be paid to ASCAP can be set, in the absence of a negotiated settlement, by the rate court established pursuant to such consent decree in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. In September 2011, we changed the method we used to calculate royalties due to ASCAP following the execution of an interim arrangement for the period commencing January 1, 2011, pending a final determination of new rates. The rates to be paid to ASCAP may be adjusted retroactively, either by mutual agreement or order of the rate court. In November 2012, we filed a petition in the rate court to determine final, reasonable rates and terms with ASCAP. Rate court proceedings could take years to complete, could be very costly, and there are no guarantees that the rate court will establish royalty rates more favorable to us than those we previously paid pursuant to our terminated agreement with ASCAP or those we pay pursuant to our interim arrangement with ASCAP.

        We also obtain licenses directly from music publishers. In May 2011, EMI Music Publishing, or EMI, announced its decision to withdraw from ASCAP certain portions of its musical works catalog that ASCAP had been administering on its behalf. As a result, ASCAP may no longer be able to license those musical works, and new media licensees, such as Pandora, who were previously able to secure licenses from ASCAP for those musical works, may now have to enter into direct licensing arrangements with EMI. In March 2012, we entered into a licensing agreement with EMI covering the public performance of the EMI musical works purportedly withdrawn from the ASCAP repertory.

        In late 2012, Sony ATV Music Publishing or Sony ATV, which led a consortium in the acquisition of EMI in June 2012, announced its intention to withdraw from ASCAP and BMI certain portions of its musical works catalog that ASCAP and BMI had been administering on its behalf. As a result, ASCAP and BMI may no longer be able to license those musical works, and new media licensees, such as Pandora, who were previously able to secure licenses from ASCAP and BMI for those musical works, may now have to enter into direct licensing arrangements with Sony ATV. In January 2013, we entered into a licensing agreement with Sony ATV and EMI covering the public performance of the works purportedly withdrawn from ASCAP and BMI.

        Other music publishers have signaled their intent to withdraw from ASCAP and BMI all or a portion of the musical works catalogs that ASCAP and BMI administer on their behalf. It is unclear whether other music publishers will be able to withdraw their catalogs from ASCAP or BMI and, if so, what specific effect those withdrawals will have on us.

Non-U.S. Licensing Regimes

        In addition to the copyright and licensing arrangements described above for our use of sound recordings and musical compositions in the United States, other countries have various copyright and licensing regimes, including in some cases performance-rights organizations and copyright collection societies from which licenses must be obtained. We have obtained licenses to operate in Australia and New Zealand for the communication of sound recordings and the musical compositions embodied in those sound recordings. As yet, we have not identified economically suitable licensing arrangements in other countries.

    Government Regulation

        As a company conducting business on the internet, we are subject to a number of foreign and domestic laws and regulations relating to consumer protection, information security, data protection and privacy, among other things. Many of these laws and regulations are still evolving and could be interpreted in ways that could harm our business. In the area of information security and data

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protection, the laws in several states require companies to implement specific information security controls to protect certain types of information. Likewise, all but a few states have laws in place requiring companies to notify users if there is a security breach that compromises certain categories of their information. Any failure on our part to comply with these laws may subject us to significant liabilities.

        We are also subject to federal and state laws regarding privacy of listener data. Our privacy policy and terms of use describe our practices concerning the use, transmission and disclosure of listener information and are posted on our website. Any failure to comply with our posted privacy policy or privacy-related laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental authorities or others, which could harm our business. Further, any failure by us to adequately protect the privacy or security of our listeners' information could result in a loss of confidence in our service among existing and potential listeners, and ultimately, in a loss of listeners and advertising customers, which could adversely affect our business.

Intellectual Property

        Our success depends upon our ability to protect our technologies and intellectual property. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including trade secrets, patents, copyrights, trademarks, contractual restrictions, technological measures and other methods. We enter into confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements with our employees, consultants and business partners, and we control access to and distribution of our proprietary information.

        We have three patents that have been issued in the United States and we continue to pursue additional patent protection, both in the United States and abroad where appropriate and cost effective.

        Our registered trademarks in the United States include "Pandora," the "Music Genome Project," and "QUICKMIX," in addition to a number of Pandora logos. "Pandora" is also registered in Australia, Canada, Chile, the European Union, Israel, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, and other countries. "Music Genome Project" is also registered in Australia, China, and New Zealand. "QUICKMIX" is also registered in China. We have pending trademark applications in the United States and in certain other countries, including applications for Pandora logos.

        We are the registrant of the internet domain name for our website, pandora.com, as well as pandora.co.in, pandora.co.uk, pandora.co.nz and pandora.de, among others. We own rights to proprietary processes and trade secrets, including those underlying the Pandora service.

        In addition to the foregoing protections, we generally control access to and use of our proprietary software and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls, including contractual protections with employees, contractors, customers and partners.

Customer Concentration

        No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our total revenues in fiscal 2011, 2012 or 2013.

Seasonality

        Our results may reflect the effects of some seasonal trends in listener behavior due to increased internet usage and sales of media-streaming devices during certain vacation and holiday periods. For example, we expect to experience increased usage during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to the holiday season, and in the first quarter of each calendar year due to increased use of media-streaming devices received as gifts during the holiday season. We may also experience higher advertising sales during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to greater advertiser demand during the holiday season and lower advertising sales in the first quarter of the following year due to

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reduced advertiser demand. See the section entitled "Quarterly Trends" in Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more complete description of the seasonality of our financial results.

Employees

        As of January 31, 2013, we had approximately 740 employees. None of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.

Corporate and Available Information

        We were incorporated as a California corporation in January 2000 and reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in December 2010. Our principal executive offices are located at 2101 Webster Street, Suite 1650, Oakland, California 94612 and our telephone number is (510) 451-4100. Our website is located at www.pandora.com and our Investor Relations website is located at investor.pandora.com.

        We have a January 31 fiscal year end. Accordingly, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, all references to a fiscal year refer to the 12 months ended January 31 of such year, and references to the first, second, third and fourth fiscal quarters refer to the three months ended April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31, respectively.

        We file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and any other filings required by the SEC. We make available on our Investor Relations website, free of charge, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC.

        The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC maintains an Internet site (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

ITEM 1A.    RISK FACTORS

        The risks and uncertainties set forth below, as well as other factors described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in other filings by the Company with the SEC, could adversely affect the Company's business, financial condition, results of operations and the trading price of our common stock. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to the Company or that are not currently believed by the Company to be material may also harm the Company's business operations and financial results. Because of the following factors, as well as other factors affecting the Company's financial condition and operating results, past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

Risks Related to Our Business

Internet radio is an emerging market, which makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects.

        Internet radio is an emerging market and our current business and future prospects are difficult to evaluate. The market for internet radio has undergone rapid and dramatic changes in its relatively short history and is subject to significant challenges. As a result, the future revenue and income

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potential of our business is uncertain. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we encounter in this new and rapidly evolving market, which risks and difficulties include, among others:

    our relatively new, evolving and unproven business model;

    our ability to retain our current listenership, build our listener base and increase listener hours;

    our ability to effectively monetize listener hours, particularly with respect to listener hours on mobile devices, by growing our sales of advertising inventory created from growing listener hours and developing compelling ad product solutions that successfully deliver advertisers' messages across the range of our delivery platforms while maintaining our listener experience in continually evolving markets;

    our ability to attract new advertisers, retain existing advertisers and prove to advertisers that our advertising platform is effective enough to justify a pricing structure that is profitable for us;

    our ability to maintain relationships with makers of mobile devices, consumer electronic products and automobiles; and

    our operation under an evolving music industry licensing structure including statutory and compulsory licenses that may change or cease to exist, which in turn may result in a significant increase in our operating expenses.

        Failure to successfully address these risks and difficulties, and other challenges associated with operating in a new and emerging market, could inhibit the implementation of our business plan, significantly harm our financial condition, operating results and liquidity and prevent us from achieving or sustaining profitability.

We have incurred significant operating losses in the past and may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable.

        Since our inception in 2000, we have incurred significant net operating losses and, as of January 31, 2013, we had an accumulated deficit of $139.6 million. A key element of our strategy is to increase the number of listeners and listener hours to increase our market penetration, including the number of listener hours on mobile and other connected devices, such as automobiles and consumer electronics. However, as our number of listener hours increases, the royalties we pay for content acquisition also increase. We have not in the past generated, and may not in the future generate, sufficient revenue from the sale of advertising and subscriptions to offset our expenses. While we have generated revenue from our advertising products at a rate that exceeds the growth in listener hours in certain fiscal years for traditional computers and for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013 for mobile and other connected devices, to date we have not been able to grow our total advertising revenue at a rate that exceeds the growth in our listener hours. Part of the challenge that we face in increasing sales to monetize inventory generated by mobile devices is that radio advertising has traditionally attracted primarily local advertisers and we are still at an early stage of building our sales capability and penetrating local advertising markets. In addition, to the extent that our listener base on mobile platforms may skew to different demographics than we have historically sold on our traditional computer platform, we must identify such demographics and convince advertisers of the capabilities of mobile advertising to maximize advertising inventory utilization across our multi-platform ad campaigns.

        If we cannot successfully earn revenue at a rate that exceeds the operational costs associated with increased listener hours, we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability. In addition, we expect to invest heavily in our operations to support anticipated future growth. As a result of these factors, we expect to continue to incur annual losses on a U.S. GAAP basis in the near term.

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        Our revenue increased rapidly in each of the fiscal years ended January 31, 2007 through January 31, 2013; however, we expect our revenue growth rate to decline in the future as a result of a variety of factors, including increased competition and the maturation of our business, and we cannot assure you that our revenue will continue to grow or will not decline. You should not consider our historical revenue growth or operating expenses as indicative of our future performance. If our revenue growth rate declines or our operating expenses exceed our expectations, our financial performance will be adversely affected. Further, if our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, it could have a materially negative effect on our stock price.

        In addition, in our efforts to increase revenue as the number of listener hours has grown, we have expanded and expect to continue to expand our sales force. If our hiring of additional sales personnel does not result in a sufficient increase in revenue, the cost of this additional headcount will not be offset, which would harm our operating results and financial condition.

Our failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our service in the future could harm our business.

        For our fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 we derived 88% of our revenue from the sale of advertising and expect to continue to derive a substantial majority of our revenue from the sale of advertising in the future. Our ability to attract and retain advertisers, and ultimately to sell our advertising inventory to generate advertising revenue, depends on a number of factors, including:

    increasing the number of listener hours;

    keeping pace with changes in technology and our competitors;

    competing effectively for advertising dollars from other online marketing and media companies;

    penetrating the market for local radio advertising;

    demonstrating the value of advertisements to reach targeted audiences across all of our delivery platforms, including the value of mobile digital advertising;

    continuing to develop and diversify our advertisement platform, which currently includes delivery of display, audio and video advertising products through multiple delivery channels, including traditional computers, mobile and other connected devices, including automobiles; and

    coping with ad blocking technologies that have been developed and are likely to continue to be developed that can block the display of our ads.

        Our agreements with advertisers are generally short term or may be terminated at any time by the advertiser. Advertisers that are spending only a small amount of their overall advertising budget on our service may view advertising with us as experimental and unproven and may leave us for competing alternatives at any time. We may never succeed in capturing a greater share of our advertisers' core advertising spending, particularly if we are unable to achieve the scale and market penetration necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness of our advertising platforms, or if our advertising model proves ineffective or not competitive when compared to alternatives. Failure to demonstrate the value of our service would result in reduced spending by, or loss of, existing or potential future advertisers, which would materially harm our revenue and business.

Advertising on mobile devices, such as smartphones, is an emerging phenomenon, and if we are unable to increase revenue from our advertising products delivered to mobile devices, our results of operations will be materially adversely affected.

        Our number of listener hours on mobile devices has surpassed listener hours on traditional computers, and we expect that this trend will continue. Our mobile listenership has experienced significant growth since we introduced the first mobile version of our service in May 2007. Listener

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hours on mobile devices and other connected devices constituted approximately 5%, 26%, 54%, 69% and 77% of our total listener hours for fiscal years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. We expect this growth to continue, though at a less rapid pace. Digital advertising on mobile devices is an emerging phenomenon, and the percentage of advertising spending allocated to digital advertising on mobile devices is lower than that allocated to traditional online advertising. According to IDC, the percentage of U.S. advertising spending allocated to advertising on mobile devices was less than 1% in 2010, compared to 13% for all online advertising. We must therefore convince advertisers of the capabilities of mobile digital advertising opportunities so that they migrate their advertising spend toward demographics and ad solutions that more effectively utilize mobile inventory. Our cost of content acquisition, or royalty fees for public performances is currently calculated on the same basis whether a listening hour is consumed on a traditional computer or a mobile device. To date, we have not been able to generate revenue from our advertising products delivered to mobile and other connected devices, such as automobiles and consumer electronics, as effectively as we have for our advertising products served on traditional computers.

        Radio advertising has traditionally attracted primarily local advertisers, and we are still at an early stage of building our sales capability to penetrate local advertising markets, which we view as a key challenge in monetizing our listener hours, including listener hours on mobile and other connected devices. In addition, while a substantial amount of our revenue has traditionally been derived from display ads, some display ads may not be currently optimized for use on certain mobile or other connected devices. For example, standard display ads may not be well-suited for use on smartphones due to the size of the device screen and may not be appropriate for smartphones connected to or integrated in automobiles due to safety considerations. Further, some display ads may not be optimized to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities of connected devices. By contrast, audio ads are better-suited for delivery on smartphones connected to or installed in automobiles and across mobile and connected device platforms and video ads can be optimized for a variety of platforms. However, our audio and video advertising products are relatively new and have not been as widely accepted by advertisers as our traditional display ads. In addition, the introduction of audio advertising places us in more direct competition with terrestrial radio, as many advertisers that purchase audio ads focus their spending on terrestrial radio stations who traditionally have strong connections with local advertisers.

        We have plans that, that if successfully implemented, would increase our number of listener hours on mobile and other connected devices, including efforts to expand the reach of our service by making it available on an increasing number of devices, such as smartphones and devices connected to or installed in automobiles. In order to effectively monetize such increased listener hours, we must, among other things, convince advertisers to migrate spending to nascent advertising markets, penetrate local advertising markets and develop compelling ad product solutions. We cannot assure you that we will be able to effectively monetize inventory generated by listeners using mobile and connected devices, or the time frame on which we may do so.

If our efforts to attract prospective listeners and to retain existing listeners are not successful, our growth prospects and revenue will be adversely affected.

        Our ability to grow our business and generate advertising revenue depends on retaining and expanding our listener base and increasing listener hours. We must convince prospective listeners of the benefits of our service and existing listeners of the continuing value of our service. The more listener hours we stream, the more ad inventory we have to sell. Further, growth in our listener base increases the size of demographic pools targeted by advertisers, which improves our ability to deliver advertising in a manner that maximizes our advertising customers' return on investment and, ultimately, to demonstrate the effectiveness of our advertising solutions and justify a pricing structure that is profitable for us. If we fail to grow our listener base and listener hours, particularly in key

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demographics such as young adults, we will be unable to grow advertising revenue, and our business will be materially and adversely affected.

        Our ability to increase the number of our listeners and listener hours will depend on effectively addressing a number of challenges. We may fail to do so. Some of these challenges include:

    providing listeners with a consistent high quality, user-friendly and personalized experience;

    continuing to build our catalogs of music and comedy content that our listeners enjoy;

    continuing to innovate and keep pace with changes in technology and our competitors; and

    maintaining and building our relationships with makers of consumer products such as mobile devices, other consumer electronic products and automobiles to make our service available through their products.

        In addition, we have historically relied heavily on the success of viral marketing to expand consumer awareness of our service. If we are unable to maintain or increase the efficacy of our viral marketing strategy, or if we otherwise decide to expand the reach of our marketing through use of more costly marketing campaigns, we may experience an increase in marketing expenses, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in maintaining or expanding our listener base and failure to do so would materially reduce our revenue and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

        Further, although we use our number of registered users and our number of active users as indicators of our brand awareness and the growth of our business, the number of registered users and number of active users exceeds the number of unique individuals who register for, or actively use, our service. We define registered users as the total number of accounts that have been created for our service and we define active users as the number of distinct registered users that have requested audio from our servers within the trailing 30 days from the end of each calendar month. To establish an account, a person does not need to provide personally unique information. For this reason a person may have multiple accounts. If the number of actual listeners does not result in an increase in listener hours, then our business may not grow as quickly as we expect, which may harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We have experienced rapid growth in both listener hours and advertising revenue. We do not expect to be able to sustain these growth rates in the future and our business and operating results may suffer.

        We have experienced rapid growth rates in both listener hours and advertising revenue as a result of our growth strategy to commit substantial financial, operational and technical resources to build the Company. As we grow larger and increase our listener base and usage, we expect it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the rate of growth we currently experience. Slower growth could negatively impact our stock price, our ability to hire and retain employees or harm our business in other ways.

If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our business and operating results may suffer.

        Our rapid growth has placed, and will continue to place, significant demands on our management and our operational and financial infrastructure. In order to attain and maintain profitability, we will need to recruit, integrate and retain skilled and experienced sales personnel who can demonstrate our value proposition to advertisers and increase the monetization of listener hours, particularly on mobile devices, by developing relationships with both national and local advertisers to convince them to migrate advertising spending to online and mobile digital advertising markets and utilize our advertising product solutions. Continued growth could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our listeners, effectively monetize our listener hours, develop and improve our operational, financial

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and management controls, enhance our reporting systems and procedures and recruit, train and retain highly skilled personnel. If our systems do not evolve to meet the increased demands placed on us by an increasing number of advertisers, we may also be unable to meet our obligations under advertising agreements with respect to the timing of our delivery of advertising or other performance obligations. As our operations grow in size, scope and complexity, we will need to improve and upgrade our systems and infrastructure, which will require significant expenditures and allocation of valuable management resources. If we fail to maintain the necessary level of discipline and efficiency and allocate limited resources effectively in our organization as it grows, our business, operating results and financial condition may suffer.

We face and will continue to face competition for both listener hours and advertising spending.

        We compete with other content providers for listener hours.

        We compete for the time and attention of our listeners with other content providers on the basis of a number of factors, including quality of experience, relevance, acceptance and diversity of content, ease of use, price, accessibility, perception of ad load, brand awareness and reputation.

        Many of our competitors may leverage their existing infrastructure, brand recognition and content collections to augment their services by offering competing internet radio features to provide listeners with more comprehensive music service delivery choices. We face increasing competition for listeners from a growing variety of businesses that deliver audio media content through mobile phones and other wireless devices.

        Our competitors include terrestrial radio, satellite radio, and online radio. Terrestrial radio providers such as CBS and Clear Channel offer their content for free, are well-established and accessible to listeners and offer content, such as news, sports, traffic, weather and talk that we currently do not offer. In addition, many terrestrial radio stations have begun broadcasting digital signals, which provide high quality audio transmission.

        Satellite radio providers, such as Sirius XM, may offer extensive and oftentimes exclusive news, comedy, sports and talk content, national signal coverage, and long established automobile integration. In addition, terrestrial radio pays no royalties for its use of sound recordings and satellite radio pays a much lower percentage of revenue, currently 9.0%, than internet radio providers for use of sound recordings, giving broadcast and satellite radio companies a significant cost advantage.

        Other online radio providers may offer more extensive content libraries than we offer and some may be accessed internationally.

        We also compete with providers of on-demand audio media and entertainment which are purchased or available for free and playable on mobile devices, automobiles and in the home. These forms of media may be purchased, downloaded and owned such as iTunes audio files, MP3s, CDs, or accessed from subscription or free online on-demand offerings by music providers such as RDIO, Spotify, and Rhapsody or content streams from other online services such as Hulu, VEVO, turntable fm and YouTube. We believe that companies with a combination of financial resources, technical expertise and digital media experience also pose a significant threat of developing competing internet radio and digital audio entertainment technologies in the future. In particular, if known incumbents in the digital media space such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google choose to offer competing services, they may devote greater resources than we have available, have a more accelerated time frame for deployment and leverage their existing user base and proprietary technologies to provide products and services that our listeners and advertisers may view as superior. Our current and future competitors may have more well-established brand recognition, more established relationships with consumer product manufacturers, greater financial, technical, and other resources, more sophisticated technologies or more experience in the markets in which we compete.

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        We also compete for listeners on the basis of our presence and visibility as compared with other businesses and software that deliver audio and other content through the internet, mobile devices and consumer products. We face significant competition for listeners from companies promoting their own digital music and content online or through application stores, including several large, well-funded and seasoned participants in the digital media market. Search engines, such as Google, and mobile device application stores, such as the iTunes Store, rank responses to search queries based on the popularity of a website or mobile application, as well as other factors that are outside of our control. Additionally, mobile device application stores often offer users the ability to browse applications by various criteria, such as the number of downloads in a given time period, the length of time since a mobile app was released or updated, or the category in which the application is placed. The websites and mobile applications of our competitors may rank higher than our website and our Pandora app, and our app may be difficult to locate in mobile device application stores, which could draw potential listeners away from our service and toward those of our competitors. In addition, our competitors' products may be pre-loaded into consumer electronics products or automobiles, creating an initial visibility advantage. If we are unable to compete successfully for listeners against other digital media providers by maintaining and increasing our presence and visibility online, in application stores and in consumer electronics products and automobiles, our listener hours may fail to increase as expected or decline and our advertising sales may suffer.

        To compete effectively, we must continue to invest significant resources in the development of our service to enhance the user experience of our listeners. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully for listeners in the future against existing or new competitors, and failure to do so could result in loss of existing or potential listeners, reduced revenue, increased marketing expenses or diminished brand strength, any of which could harm our business.

        We compete for advertising spending with other content providers.

        We compete for a share of advertisers' overall marketing budgets with other content providers on a variety of factors including perceived return on investment, effectiveness and relevance of our advertising products, pricing structure and ability to deliver large volumes or precise types of ads to targeted demographics.

        We face significant competition for advertising dollars from terrestrial and, to a lesser extent, satellite radio providers. As many of the advertisers we target have traditionally advertised on terrestrial radio and have less experience with internet radio providers, they may be reluctant to spend for advertising on traditional computers, mobile or other connected device platforms. In addition, terrestrial radio providers as well as other traditional media companies in television and print, such as broadcast television networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, cable television channel providers, national newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and some regional newspapers, enjoy a number of competitive advantages over us in attracting advertisers, including large established audiences, longer operating histories, greater brand recognition and a growing presence on the internet.

        Although advertisers are allocating an increasing amount of their overall marketing budgets to web and mobile-based ads, such spending lags behind growth in internet and mobile usage, and the market for online and mobile advertising is intensely competitive. As a result, we also compete for advertisers with a range of internet companies, including major internet portals, search engine companies and social media sites. Large internet companies with greater brand recognition, such as Facebook, Google, MSN and Yahoo! have significant numbers of direct sales personnel and substantial proprietary advertising inventory and web traffic that provide a significant competitive advantage and have a significant impact on pricing for internet advertising and web traffic. The trend toward consolidation among online marketing and media companies may also affect pricing and availability of advertising inventory.

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        In order to compete successfully for advertisers against new and existing competitors, we must continue to invest resources in developing and diversifying our advertisement platform, harnessing listener data and ultimately proving the effectiveness and relevance of our advertising products. Failure to compete successfully against our current or future competitors could result in loss of current or potential advertisers or a reduced share of our advertisers' overall marketing budget, which could adversely affect our pricing and margins, lower our revenue, increase our research and development and marketing expenses and prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability.

Our ability to increase the number of our listeners will depend in part on our ability to establish and maintain relationships with automakers, automotive suppliers and consumer electronics manufacturers with products that integrate our service.

        A key element of our strategy to expand the reach of our service and increase the number of our listeners and listener hours is to establish and maintain relationships with automakers, automotive suppliers and consumer electronics manufacturers that integrate our service into and with their products. Working with certain third-party distribution partners, we currently offer listeners the ability to access our service through a variety of consumer electronics products used in the home and devices connected to or installed in automobiles. We intend to broaden our ability to reach additional listeners, and increase current listeners hours, through other platforms and partners over time. However, reaching agreements with distribution partners can be time consuming, and once an agreement is reached, product design cycles can be lengthy. If we are not successful in maintaining existing and creating new relationships, or if we encounter technological, content licensing or other impediments, our ability to grow our business could be adversely impacted.

        Our existing agreements with partners in the automobile and consumer electronics industries generally do not obligate those partners to launch our service in their products. In addition, some automobile manufacturers or their supplier partners may terminate their agreements with us for convenience. Our business could be adversely affected if our automobile partners and consumer electronics partners do not continue to provide access to our service or are unwilling to do so on terms acceptable to us. If we are forced to amend the business terms of our distribution agreements as a result of competitive pressure, our ability to maintain and expand the reach of our service and increase listener hours would be adversely affected, which would reduce our revenue and harm our operating results.

        Additionally, we distribute our mobile applications via smartphone application download stores managed by Apple, Google, Amazon, Palm and Research In Motion, or RIM, and such distribution is subject to an application developer license agreement in each case. Should any of these parties amend the terms of their license in such a way that inhibits our ability to distribute the Pandora apps via their application store, or negatively impacts our economics in such distribution, our ability to increase listener hours and sell advertising would be adversely affected, which would reduce our revenue and harm our operating results.

If we are unable to continue to make our technology compatible with the technologies of third-party distribution partners who make our service available to our listeners through mobile devices, consumer electronic products and automobiles, we may not remain competitive and our business may fail to grow or decline.

        In order to deliver music everywhere our listeners want to hear it, our service must be compatible with mobile, consumer electronic, automobile and website technologies. Our service is accessible in part through Pandora-developed or third-party developed applications that hardware manufacturers embed in, and distribute through, their devices. Connected devices and their underlying technology are constantly evolving. As internet connectivity of automobiles, mobile devices, and other consumer electronic products expands and as new internet-connected products are introduced, we must constantly

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adapt our technology. It is difficult to keep pace with the continual release of new devices and technological advances in digital media delivery and predict the problems we may encounter in developing versions of our applications for these new devices and delivery channels. It may become increasingly challenging to do so in the future. In particular, the technology used for streaming the Pandora service in automobiles remains at an early stage and may not result in a seamless customer experience. If automobile and consumer electronic makers fail to make products that are compatible with our technology or we fail to adapt our technology to evolving requirements, our ability to grow or sustain the reach of our service, increase listener hours and sell advertising could be adversely affected.

        Consumer tastes and preferences can change in rapid and unpredictable ways and consumer acceptance of these products depends on the marketing, technical and other efforts of third-party manufacturers, which is beyond our control. If consumers fail to accept the products of the companies with whom we partner or if we fail to establish relationships with makers of leading consumer products, our business could be adversely affected.

Unavailability of, or fluctuations in, third-party measurements of our audience may adversely affect our ability to grow advertising revenue.

        Selling ads requires that we demonstrate to advertisers that our service has substantial reach and usage, and we rely on third parties to quantify the reach and usage of our service. These third-party measurements may not reflect our true listening audience and their underlying methodologies are subject to change at any time. In addition, the methodologies we apply to measure the key metrics that we use to monitor and manage our business may differ from the methodologies used by third-party measurement service providers. For example, we calculate listener hours based on the total bytes served for each track that is requested and served from our servers, as measured by our internal analytics systems, whether or not a listener listens to the entire track. By contrast, certain third-party measurement service providers may calculate and report the number of listener hours using a client-based approach, which measures time elapsed during listening sessions. Measurement technologies for mobile and consumer electronic devices may be even less reliable in quantifying the reach and usage of our service, and it is not clear whether such technologies will integrate with our systems or uniformly and comprehensively reflect the reach and usage of our service. While we have been working with third-party measurement service providers, these providers have not yet developed uniform measurement systems that comprehensively measure the reach and usage of our service. We expect that in the future these providers will begin to publish increasingly reliable information about the reach and usage of our service. However, until then, in order to demonstrate to potential advertisers the benefits of our service, we must supplement third-party measurement data with our internal research, which may be perceived as less valuable than third-party numbers. If such third-party measurement providers report lower metrics than we do, or if there is wide variance among reported metrics, our ability to convince advertisers of the benefits of our service could be adversely affected.

Our success depends upon the continued acceptance of online advertising as an alternative or supplement to offline advertising.

        The percentage of the advertising market allocated to online advertising lags the percentage of consumer online consumption by a significant degree. Growth of our business will depend in large part on the reduction or elimination of this gap between online and offline advertising spending, which may not happen in a way or to the extent that we currently expect. Many advertisers still have limited experience with online advertising and may continue to devote significant portions of their advertising budgets to traditional, offline advertising media. Accordingly, we continue to compete for advertising dollars with traditional media, including broadcast radio.

        Although advertisers as a whole are spending an increasing amount of their overall advertising budget on online advertising, we face a number of challenges in growing our advertising revenue. We

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compete for advertising dollars with significantly larger and more established online marketing and media companies such as Facebook, Google, MSN and Yahoo!. We believe that the continued growth and acceptance of our online advertising products will depend on the perceived effectiveness and the acceptance of online advertising models generally, which is outside of our control. Any lack of growth in the market for online advertising could result in reduced revenue or increased marketing expenses, which would harm our operating results and financial condition.

We operate under and pay royalties pursuant to statutory licensing structures for the reproduction and public performance of sound recordings that could change or cease to exist, which would adversely affect our business.

        We currently operate under statutory and compulsory licensing regimes and structures that may change or cease to exist. We must pay performance rights royalties for the digital audio transmission of sound recordings. Subject to our ongoing compliance with numerous statutory conditions and regulatory requirements for a non-interactive service, we are permitted to operate under a statutory license that allows the streaming in the U.S. of any sound recording lawfully released to the public. We are also permitted to make reproductions of sound recordings on computer servers pursuant to a separate statutory license designed to facilitate the making of transmissions. There is no guarantee that we will continue to be eligible to operate under these statutory licenses. For example, if a court were to determine that we operate an interactive streaming service or make reproductions of sound recordings outside the statutory license, we would have to negotiate license agreements with sound recording copyright owners individually, a time consuming and expensive undertaking that would jeopardize our ability to stream all music currently in our library and could result in royalty costs that are prohibitively expensive. In addition, if copyright owners object to the functionality or transmission methods of our service, we could lose our eligibility to operate under the statutory licenses. Our ability to avoid negotiating separate agreements with the many copyright owners of sound recordings depends on these two statutory licenses, and if we were to no longer qualify for operation under, or violate the provisions of the statutory licenses, we could be subject to significant liability for copyright infringement and may no longer be able to operate under our existing licensing regime. For our fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 we incurred SoundExchange related content acquisition costs representing 55.9% of our total revenue for that period.

        The rates to be paid for the streaming of sound recordings pursuant to the statutory licenses can be established by either negotiation or through a rate proceeding conducted by the CRB, a tribunal established within the U.S. Library of Congress. In 2007, the CRB set royalty rates for the online streaming of sound recordings for 2006 through 2010 that were so high that the cost for streaming sound recordings alone would have been unsustainable under our current business model. In response to the lobbying efforts of internet webcasters, including us, Congress passed the Webcaster Settlement Acts of 2008 and 2009, which permitted webcasters and SoundExchange, the sole entity designated by the CRB to collect and distribute the statutory royalties paid by internet webcasters such as us, to negotiate alternative rates to those established by the CRB for the years 2006 through 2015. In July 2009, certain webcasters reached an agreement with SoundExchange, establishing a more favorable royalty structure that we have elected to accept and that by its terms will apply through 2015. We do not know what rates will be available to us following that period and there is no guarantee that the royalty structure that emerged from the negotiations with SoundExchange pursuant to the Webcaster Settlement Acts will be available after 2015. The CRB, which still has rate-making authority over us upon expiration of our agreement with SoundExchange, has consistently established royalty rates that would, if paid by us, consume an unsustainable percentage of our revenue. If we are unable to reach a new agreement with SoundExchange for the period after 2015, our operating costs may significantly increase, which could harm our financial condition and inhibit the implementation of our business plan.

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        In addition, the royalties that we pay to SoundExchange for the streaming of sound recordings are calculated using a per performance rate. While we believe that the mechanisms we use to track performances are sufficient to ensure that we are accurately reporting and paying royalties, our ability to do so depends in part on our ability to maintain these mechanisms as new devices are introduced and incumbent technologies evolve. Any understatement or overstatement of performances could result in our paying lower or higher royalties to SoundExchange than we actually owed, which could in turn affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We depend upon third-party licenses for the right to publicly perform musical works and a change to or loss of these licenses could increase our operating costs or adversely affect our ability to retain and expand our listener base, and therefore could adversely affect our business.

        To secure the rights to stream musical works embodied in sound recordings over the internet, we obtain licenses from or for the benefit of copyright owners and pay royalties to copyright owners or their agents. Those who own copyrights in musical works are vigilant in protecting their rights and seek royalties that are very high in relation to the revenue that can be generated from the public performance of such works. There is no guarantee that the licenses available to us now will continue to be available in the future or that such licenses will be available at the royalty rates associated with the current licenses. If we are unable to secure and maintain rights to stream musical works or if we cannot do so on terms that are acceptable to us, our ability to stream music content to our listeners, and consequently our ability to attract and retain advertisers, will be adversely impacted.

        Copyright owners of musical works most often rely on intermediaries known as performance rights organizations to negotiate so-called "blanket" licenses with copyright users, collect royalties under such licenses and distribute them to copyright owners. We have obtained public performance licenses from, and pay license fees to, the three major performance rights organizations in the United States: the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, Broadcast Music, Inc., or BMI and SESAC, Inc., or SESAC. These organizations represent the rights of songwriters and music publishers, negotiate with copyright users such as us, collect royalties and distribute those royalties to the copyright owners they represent. Performing rights organizations have the right to audit our playlists and royalty payments, and any such audit could result in disputes over whether we have paid the proper royalties. If such a dispute were to occur, we could be required to pay additional royalties and the amounts involved could be material. We currently operate under a final agreement with SESAC, however, this agreement is subject to termination by either party in accordance with its terms at the end of each yearly term, and there is no guarantee that the associated royalty rate available to us now will be available to us in the future. We currently operate under interim agreements with BMI and ASCAP, which pursuant to their respective consent decrees entered into with the U.S. Department of Justice cannot refuse to grant us licenses for the public performance of the musical works they administer. The rates to be paid to BMI and ASCAP can be set, in the absence of a negotiated agreement, by the respective rate courts established pursuant to such decrees in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. SESAC is not subject to a mandatory licensing obligation and could withhold the rights to all of the musical works which it administers. The loss of the musical works represented by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC could diminish the appeal of our service to listeners.

        In 2010, we elected to terminate our prior agreement with ASCAP as of December 31, 2010 and in 2012 we elected to terminate our prior agreement with BMI as of December 31, 2012 because we believed that the royalty rates sought by ASCAP and BMI were excessive. Notwithstanding our termination of these agreements, the musical works administered by ASCAP and BMI are licensed to us pursuant to the provisions of their respective consent decrees. In September 2011, we changed the method we used to calculate royalties due to ASCAP following the execution of an interim arrangement for the period commencing January 1, 2011, pending a final determination of new rates. In November 2012, we filed suit in the rate court to resolve the royalty dispute with ASCAP. The rate

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court proceedings can take years to complete and can be very costly. There is no guarantee that final rates established by mutual agreement or by a rate court determination would establish royalty rates more favorable to us than those we previously paid pursuant our terminated agreements with ASCAP and/or BMI or those that we pay pursuant to our interim arrangements with ASCAP and/or BMI. In addition, we could be liable for both increased royalty rates going forward and a potential true-up of royalty payments in excess of any interim royalties paid for the period following December 31, 2010 with respect to ASCAP and/or for the period following December 31, 2012 with respect to BMI. For our fiscal year ended January 31, 2013, we incurred BMI, SESAC, ASCAP, EMI and Sony ATV related content acquisition costs representing 4.3% of our total revenue for that period.

        We do not currently pay so-called "mechanical royalties" to music publishers for the reproduction and distribution of musical works embodied in transitory copies used to make streams audible to our listeners. Although not currently a matter of dispute, if music publishers were to change their position and seek to be paid mechanical royalties by us, and a final judgment were entered by a court requiring that payment, our royalty obligations could increase significantly, which would increase our operating expenses and harm our business and financial interests. In May 2011, we started streaming spoken word comedy content, for which the underlying literary works are not currently entitled to eligibility for licensing by any performing rights organization for the United States. While pursuant to industry-wide custom and practice this content is performed absent a specific license from any such performing rights organization, there can be no assurance that this will not change or that we will not otherwise become subject to additional licensing costs for spoken word comedy content imposed by performing rights organizations in the future.

If music publishers withdraw all or a portion of their music works from performing rights organizations for public performances by means of digital transmissions, we may be forced to enter into direct licensing agreements with these publishers at rates higher than those we currently pay, or we may be unable to reach agreement with these publishers at all, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        If music publishers withdraw all or a portion of their catalogs from performing rights organizations (or "PROs") such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC, we may no longer be able to obtain licenses for such publisher's withdrawn catalogs. Under these circumstances, we would need to enter into direct licensing arrangements with such music publishers. For example, EMI purportedly withdrew its catalog from ASCAP in May 2011, and as a result we entered into a separate license agreement with EMI in March 2012. Sony ATV, which led a consortium to acquire EMI in June 2012, announced its intention to withdraw certain rights from ASCAP and BMI to license the performance of its works effective December 31, 2012 and, as a result, we entered into a separate license agreement with Sony ATV in January 2013. Other publishers have signaled their intent to withdraw all or a portion of their catalogs from ASCAP and BMI. Although we continue to be licensed by the PROs, it is currently unclear what specific effect a publisher's limited withdrawal of rights to public performances by means of digital transmissions from a PRO would have on us. If we are unable to reach an agreement with respect to the repertoire of any music publisher who withdraws all or a portion of its catalog(s) from a PRO, or if we are forced to enter into direct licensing agreements with publishers at rates higher than those currently set by the PROs (or higher than those set by the U.S. District Court having supervisory authority over ASCAP and BMI) for the performance of musical works, or if there is uncertainty as to what rights are administered by any particular PRO or publisher, our ability to stream music content to our listeners may be limited or our operating costs may significantly increase, and this could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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If we fail to accurately predict and play music or comedy content that our listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing and attract new listeners.

        We believe that a key differentiating factor between the Pandora service and other music content providers is our ability to predict music that our listeners will enjoy. Our personalized playlist generating system, based on the Music Genome Project and our proprietary algorithms, is designed to enable us to predict listener music preferences and select music content tailored to our listeners' individual music tastes. We have invested, and will continue to invest, significant resources in refining these technologies; however, we cannot assure you that such investments will yield an attractive return or that such refinements will be effective. The effectiveness of our personalized playlist generating system depends in part on our ability to gather and effectively analyze large amounts of listener data and listener feedback and we have no assurance that we will continue to be successful in enticing listeners to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to enough songs for our database to effectively predict and select new and existing songs. In addition, our ability to offer listeners songs that they have not previously heard and impart a sense of discovery depends on our ability to acquire and appropriately categorize additional tracks that will appeal to our listeners' diverse and changing tastes. While we have more than 1,000,000 songs in our catalog, we must continuously identify and analyze additional tracks that our listeners will enjoy and we may not effectively do so.

        We recently launched comedy on Pandora an offering which is designed to predict comedy content that our listeners will enjoy using technology similar to the technology that we use to generate personalized playlists for music. The risks that apply to predicting our listeners' musical tastes apply to comedy to an even greater extent, particularly as we lack experience with content other than music, do not yet have a large set of data on listener preferences for comedy and have a much smaller comedy catalog as compared to music. Our ability to predict and select music or comedy content that our listeners enjoy is critical to the perceived value of our service among listeners and failure to make accurate predictions would adversely affect our ability to attract and retain listeners, increase listener hours and sell advertising.

Loss of agreements with the makers of mobile devices, renegotiation of such agreements on less favorable terms or other actions these third parties may take could harm our business.

        Most of our agreements with makers of mobile operating systems and devices through which our service may be accessed, including Apple, RIM and Google, are short term or can be cancelled at any time with little or no prior notice or penalty. The loss of these agreements, or the renegotiation of these agreements on less favorable economic or other terms, could limit the reach of our service and its attractiveness to advertisers. Some of these mobile device makers, including Apple, are now, or may in the future become, competitors of ours, and could stop allowing or supporting access to our service through their products for competitive reasons. Furthermore, because devices providing access to our service are not manufactured and sold by us, we cannot guarantee that these companies will ensure that their devices perform reliably, and any faulty connection between these devices and our service may result in consumer dissatisfaction toward us, which could damage our brand.

We rely upon an agreement with DoubleClick, which is owned by Google, for delivering and monitoring our ads. Failure to renew the agreement on favorable terms, or termination of the agreement, could adversely affect our business.

        We use DoubleClick's ad-serving platform to deliver and monitor ads for our service. There can be no assurance that our agreement with DoubleClick, which is owned by Google, will be extended or renewed upon expiration, that we will be able to extend or renew our agreement with DoubleClick on terms and conditions favorable to us or that we could identify another alternative vendor to take its place. Our agreement with DoubleClick also allows DoubleClick to terminate our relationship before the expiration of the agreement on the occurrence of certain events, including material breach of the

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agreement by us, and to suspend provision of the services if DoubleClick determines that our use of its service violates certain security, technology or content standards.

If we are unable to implement and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, the accuracy and timeliness of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.

        Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. The report contains, among other matters, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting identified by management.

        While we have determined that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of January 31, 2013, as indicated in our Management's Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we must continue to monitor and assess our internal control over financial reporting. If our management identifies one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and such weakness remains uncorrected at fiscal year-end, we will be unable to assert such internal control is effective at fiscal year-end. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective at fiscal year-end (or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls or concludes that we have a material weakness in our internal controls), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and price of our common stock.

Our business and prospects depend on the strength of our brand and failure to maintain and enhance our brand would harm our ability to expand our base of listeners, advertisers and other partners.

        Maintaining and enhancing the "Pandora" brand is critical to expanding our base of listeners, advertisers and other partners. Maintaining and enhancing our brand will depend largely on our ability to continue to develop and provide an innovative and high quality experience for our listeners and attract advertisers, content owners and automobile, mobile device, and other consumer electronic product manufacturers to work with us, which we may not do successfully.

        Our brand may be impaired by a number of other factors, including service outages, data privacy and security issues, listener perception of ad load and exploitation of our trademarks by others without permission. Further, if our partners fail to maintain high standards for products that integrate our service, fail to display our trademarks on their products in breach of our agreements with them, or use our trademarks incorrectly or in an unauthorized manner or if we partner with manufacturers of products that our listeners reject, the strength of our brand could be adversely affected. In addition, there is a risk that the word "Pandora" could become so commonly used that we lose protection for this trademark, which could result in other people using the word "Pandora" to refer to their own products, thus diminishing the strength of our brand.

        We have not historically been required to spend considerable resources to establish and maintain our brand. However, if we are unable to maintain the growth rate in the number of our listeners, we may be required to expend greater resources on advertising, marketing, and other brand-building efforts to preserve and enhance consumer awareness of our brand which would adversely affect our operating results and may not be effective.

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We depend on key personnel to operate our business, and if we are unable to retain, attract and integrate qualified personnel, our ability to develop and successfully grow our business could be harmed.

        We believe that our future success is highly dependent on the contributions of our executive officers as well as our ability to attract and retain highly skilled and experienced sales, technical and other personnel. All of our employees, including our executive officers, are free to terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry may be difficult to replace. Qualified individuals are in high demand, particularly in the digital media industry, and we may incur significant costs to attract them. In addition, competition for qualified personnel is particularly intense in the San Francisco Bay Area, where our headquarters are located. If we are unable to attract and retain our executive officers and key employees, we may not be able to achieve our strategic objectives, and our business could be harmed. In addition, we believe that our key executives have developed highly successful and effective working relationships. If one or more of these individuals leave, we may not be able to fully integrate new executives or replicate the current dynamic and working relationships that have developed among our executive officers and other key personnel, and our operations could suffer.

Interruptions or delays in service arising from our own systems or from our third-party vendors could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business.

        We rely on systems housed in our own facilities and upon third-party vendors, including bandwidth providers and data center facilities located in California and Virginia, to enable listeners to receive our content in a dependable, timely, and efficient manner. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience periodic service interruptions and delays involving our own systems and those of our third-party vendors. We do not currently maintain a live fail-over capability that would allow us to switch our streaming operations from one facility to another in the event of a service outage. Both our own facilities and those of our third-party vendors are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures and similar events. They also are subject to break-ins, sabotage, intentional acts of vandalism, the failure of physical, administrative, technical and cyber security measures, terrorist acts, natural disasters, human error, the financial insolvency of our third-party vendors and other unanticipated problems or events. The occurrence of any of these events could result in interruptions in our service and to unauthorized access to, or alteration of, the content and data contained on our systems and that these third-party vendors store and deliver on our behalf.

        We exercise no control over our third-party vendors, which makes us vulnerable to any errors, interruptions, or delays in their operations. Any disruption in the services provided by these vendors could have significant adverse impacts on our business reputation, customer relations and operating results. Upon expiration or termination of any of our agreements with third-party vendors, we may not be able to replace the services provided to us in a timely manner or on terms and conditions, including service levels and cost, that are favorable to us, and a transition from one vendor to another vendor could subject us to operational delays and inefficiencies until the transition is complete.

Our operating results may fluctuate, which makes our results difficult to predict and could cause our results to fall short of expectations.

        Our revenue and operating results could vary significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year because of a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period to period basis may not be meaningful. In addition to other risk factors discussed in this "Risk Factors" section, factors that may contribute to the variability of our quarterly and annual results include:

    our ability to retain our current listenership, build our listener base and increase listener hours;

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    our ability to more effectively monetize mobile listener hours by increasing the sale of mobile advertising inventory as the number of listener hours on mobile devices grow;

    our ability to attract and retain existing advertisers and prove that our advertising products are effective enough to justify a pricing structure that is profitable for us;

    our ability to effectively manage our growth;

    our ability to continue to operate under the statutory licenses set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act ("DPRA");

    our ability to enjoy the benefit of rates negotiated below those established by the CRB in 2007;

    our ability to enjoy the benefits of collective licensing available through performing rights organizations;

    the effects of increased competition in our business;

    our ability to keep pace with changes in technology and our competitors;

    interruptions in service, whether or not we are responsible for such interruptions, and any related impact on our reputation;

    costs associated with defending any litigation, including intellectual property infringement litigation;

    our ability to pursue, and the timing of, entry into new geographic or content markets and, if pursued, our management of this expansion;

    the impact of general economic conditions on our revenue and expenses; and

    changes in government regulation affecting our business.

        Seasonal variations in listener and advertising behavior may also cause fluctuations in our financial results. We expect to experience some effects of seasonal trends in listener behavior due to increased internet usage and sales of media-streaming devices during certain vacation and holiday periods. For example, we expect to experience increased usage during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to the holiday season, and in the first quarter of each calendar year due to increased use of media-streaming devices received as gifts during the holiday season. We may also experience higher advertising sales during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to greater advertiser demand during the holiday season. In addition, expenditures by advertisers tend to be cyclical and discretionary in nature, reflecting overall economic conditions, the economic prospects of specific advertisers or industries, budgeting constraints and buying patterns and a variety of other factors, many of which are outside our control. While we believe these seasonal trends have affected and will continue to affect our quarterly results, our trajectory of rapid growth may have overshadowed these effects to date. We believe that our business may become more seasonal in the future and that such seasonal variations in listener behavior may result in fluctuations in our financial results.

Failure to protect our intellectual property could substantially harm our business and operating results.

        The success of our business depends on our ability to protect and enforce our trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights and patents and all of our other intellectual property rights, including our intellectual property rights underlying the Pandora service. We attempt to protect our intellectual property under trade secret, trademark, copyright and patent law, and through a combination of employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, other contractual restrictions, technological measures and other methods. These afford only limited protection. Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights and trade secrets, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of our

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song selection technology or obtain and use our trade secrets and other confidential information. Moreover, policing our intellectual property rights is difficult, costly and may not always be effective.

        We have filed, and may in the future file, patent applications. It is possible, however, that these innovations may not be protectable. In addition, given the cost, effort, risks and downside of obtaining patent protection, including the requirement to ultimately disclose the invention to the public, we may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations. However, such patent protection could later prove to be important to our business. Furthermore, there is always the possibility that our patent applications may not issue as granted patents, that the scope of the protection gained will be insufficient or that an issued patent may be deemed invalid or unenforceable. We also cannot guarantee that any of our present or future patents or other intellectual property rights will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged or abandoned, that our intellectual property rights will provide competitive advantages to us, that our ability to assert our intellectual property rights against potential competitors or to settle current or future disputes will not be limited by our relationships with third parties, that any of our pending or future patent applications will have the coverage originally sought, that our intellectual property rights will be enforced in jurisdictions where competition may be intense or where legal protection may be weak, or that we will not lose the ability to assert our intellectual property rights against or to license our technology to others and collect royalties or other payments.

        We have registered "Pandora," "Music Genome Project" and other marks as trademarks in the United States. Nevertheless, competitors may adopt service names similar to ours, or purchase our trademarks and confusingly similar terms as keywords in internet search engine advertising programs, thereby impeding our ability to build brand identity and possibly leading to confusion among our listeners or advertising customers. In addition, there could be potential trade name or trademark infringement claims brought by owners of other registered trademarks or trademarks that incorporate variations of the term Pandora or our other trademarks. Any claims or customer confusion related to our trademarks could damage our reputation and brand and substantially harm our business and operating results.

        We currently own the www.pandora.com internet domain name and various other related domain names. Domain names are generally regulated by internet regulatory bodies. If we lose the ability to use a domain name in a particular country, we would be forced either to incur significant additional expenses to market our solutions within that country or to elect not to sell solutions in that country. Either result could harm our business and operating results. The regulation of domain names in the United States and in foreign countries is subject to change. Regulatory bodies could establish additional top-level domains, appoint additional domain name registrars or modify the requirements for holding domain names. As a result, we may not be able to acquire or maintain the domain names that utilize our brand names in the United States or other countries in which we may conduct business in the future.

        In order to protect our trade secrets and other confidential information, we rely in part on confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties with whom we have relationships. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other confidential information and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of misappropriation of trade secrets or any unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets and other confidential information. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and confidential information, and in some such cases we might not be able to assert any trade secret rights against such parties. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our trade secret rights and related confidentiality and nondisclosure provisions, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection, or our competitors' obtainment of our trade secrets or independent development of unpatented technology similar to ours or competing technologies, could adversely affect our competitive business position.

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        Litigation or proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or other governmental authorities and administrative bodies in the United States and abroad may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our patent rights, trademarks, trade secrets and domain names and to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Our efforts to enforce or protect our proprietary rights may be ineffective and could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management time, each of which could substantially harm our operating results.

        Although we take steps to protect our intellectual property as discussed above, there can be no assurance, however, that changes in law will not be implemented, or changes in interpretation of such laws will occur, that will affect our ability to protect and enforce our patents and other intellectual property, including as a result of the 2011 passage of the America Invents Act of 2011 (which codifies several significant changes to the U.S. patent laws and will remain subject to certain rule-making and interpretation, including changing from a "first to invent" to a "first inventor to file" system, limiting where a patentee may file a patent suit, requiring the apportionment of patent damages, replacing interference proceedings with derivation actions, and creating a post-grant opposition process to challenge patents after they have issued).

Assertions by third parties of infringement or other violation by us of their intellectual property rights could result in significant costs and substantially harm our business and operating results.

        Internet, technology and media companies are frequently subject to litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights. Some internet, technology and media companies, including some of our competitors, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, which they may use to assert claims against us. Third parties have asserted, and may in the future assert, that we have infringed, misappropriated or otherwise violated their intellectual property rights, and as we face increasing competition, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims against us grows. In addition, various federal and state laws and regulations govern the intellectual property rights associated with sound recordings and musical works. Existing laws and regulations are evolving and subject to different interpretations, and various federal and state legislative or regulatory bodies may expand current or enact new laws or regulations. We cannot assure you that we are not infringing or violating any third-party intellectual property rights.

        We cannot predict whether assertions of third-party intellectual property rights or any infringement or misappropriation claims arising from such assertions will substantially harm our business and operating results. If we are forced to defend against any infringement or misappropriation claims, whether they are with or without merit, are settled out of court, or are determined in our favor, we may be required to expend significant time and financial resources on the defense of such claims. Furthermore, an adverse outcome of a dispute may require us to pay damages, potentially including treble damages and attorneys' fees, if we are found to have willfully infringed a party's intellectual property; cease making, licensing or using solutions that are alleged to infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property of others; expend additional development resources to redesign our solutions; enter into potentially unfavorable royalty or license agreements in order to obtain the right to use necessary technologies, content, or materials; and to indemnify our partners and other third parties. Royalty or licensing agreements, if required or desirable, may be unavailable on terms acceptable to us, or at all, and may require significant royalty payments and other expenditures. In addition, any lawsuits regarding intellectual property rights, regardless of their success, could be expensive to resolve and would divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel.

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We may require additional capital to pursue our business objectives and respond to business opportunities, challenges or unforeseen circumstances. If capital is not available to us, our business, operating results and financial condition may be harmed.

        We may require additional capital to operate or expand our business. In addition, some of our current or future strategic initiatives, including entry into non-music content channels, such as comedy, or international markets, may require substantial additional capital resources before they begin to generate revenue. Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. For example, our current credit facility contains restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, and any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve further restrictive covenants, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. In addition, volatility in the credit markets may have an adverse effect on our ability to obtain debt financing. If we do not have funds available to enhance our solutions, maintain the competitiveness of our technology and pursue business opportunities, we may not be able to service our existing listeners, acquire new listeners or attract or retain advertising customers, each of which could inhibit the implementation of our business plan and materially harm our operating results.

We may acquire other companies or technologies, which could divert our management's attention, result in additional dilution to our stockholders and otherwise disrupt our operations and harm our operating results.

        We may in the future seek to acquire or invest in businesses, products or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our service, enhance our technical capabilities or otherwise offer growth opportunities. The pursuit of potential acquisitions may divert the attention of management and cause us to incur various expenses in identifying, investigating and pursuing suitable acquisitions, whether or not they are consummated.

        In addition, we do not have any experience in acquiring other businesses. If we acquire additional businesses, we may not be able to integrate the acquired personnel, operations and technologies successfully, or effectively manage the combined business following the acquisition. We also may not achieve the anticipated benefits from the acquired business due to a number of factors, including:

    unanticipated costs or liabilities associated with the acquisition;

    incurrence of acquisition-related costs;

    diversion of management's attention from other business concerns;

    harm to our existing business relationships with business partners and advertisers as a result of the acquisition;

    harm to our brand and reputation;

    the potential loss of key employees;

    use of resources that are needed in other parts of our business; and

    use of substantial portions of our available cash to consummate the acquisition.

        In addition, a significant portion of the purchase price of companies we acquire may be allocated to acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, which must be assessed for impairment at least annually. In the future, if our acquisitions do not yield expected returns, we may be required to take charges to our operating results based on this impairment assessment process.

        Acquisitions could also result in dilutive issuances of equity securities or the incurrence of debt, which could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, if an acquired business fails to meet our expectations, our operating results, business and financial condition may suffer.

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We face many risks associated with our long-term plan to expand our operations outside of the United States, including difficulties obtaining rights to stream music on favorable terms.

        Expanding our operations into international markets is an element of our long-term strategy. For example, we recently began streaming music to web-based devices and engaging with listeners in New Zealand, Australia and the associated territories. However, offering our service outside of the United States involves numerous risks and challenges. Most importantly, while United States copyright law provides a statutory licensing regime for the streaming of sound recordings to listeners within the United States, there is no equivalent statutory licensing regime available outside of the United States, and many of the other licensing alternatives currently available in other countries are not commercially viable. Currently, the licensing terms offered by rights organizations and individual copyright owners in most countries outside the United States are prohibitively expensive. Addressing licensing structure and royalty rate issues in the United States required us to make very substantial investments of time, capital and other resources, and our business could have failed if such investments had not succeeded. Addressing these issues in foreign jurisdictions may require a commensurate investment by us, and there can be no assurance that we would succeed or achieve any return on this investment.

        In addition, international expansion exposes us to other risks such as:

    the need to modify our technology and sell our solutions in non-English speaking countries;

    the need to localize our service to foreign customers' preferences and customs;

    the need to amend existing agreements and to enter into new agreements with automakers, automotive suppliers, consumer electronics manufacturers with products that integrate our service, and others in order to provide that service in foreign countries;

    difficulties in managing operations due to language barriers, distance, staffing, cultural differences and business infrastructure constraints and domestic laws regulating corporations that operated internationally;

    our lack of experience in marketing, and encouraging viral marketing growth without incurring significant marketing expenses, in foreign countries;

    application of foreign laws and regulations to us;

    fluctuations in currency exchange rates;

    reduced or ineffective protection of our intellectual property rights in some countries; and

    potential adverse tax consequences associated with foreign operations and revenue.

        Further, in jurisdictions where copyright protection has been insufficient to protect against widespread music piracy, achieving market acceptance of our service may prove difficult as we would need to convince listeners to stream our service when they could otherwise download the same music for free. As a result of these obstacles, we may find it impossible or prohibitively expensive to enter or sustain our presence in foreign markets, or entry into foreign markets could be delayed, which could hinder our ability to grow our business.

Expansion of our operations into non-music content, including our recent launch of comedy, subjects us to additional business, legal, financial and competitive risks.

        Expansion of our operations into delivery of non-music content stations involves numerous risks and challenges, including increased capital requirements, new competitors and the need to develop new strategic relationships. For example, in May 2011, we started streaming spoken word comedy content, for which the underlying literary works are not currently entitled to eligibility for licensing by any performing rights organization for the United States. Rather, pursuant to industry-wide custom and

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practice, this content is performed absent a specific license from any such performing rights organization. Further, growth into this new area may require changes to our existing business model and cost structure, modifications to our infrastructure and exposure to new regulatory and legal risks, any of which may require expertise in which we have little or no experience. There is no guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient revenue from advertising sales associated with comedy content to offset the costs of maintaining comedy stations. For example, many of the mainstream advertisers that choose to place ads on our music stations may choose not to advertise on our comedy stations because of the sometimes explicit nature of comedy content. Further, we have established a reputation as an online music provider and our ability to gain acceptance and listenership for comedy content stations, and thus our ability to attract advertisers on comedy stations, is not certain. Failure to obtain or retain rights to comedy content on acceptable terms, or at all, to successfully monetize and generate revenues from such content, or to effectively manage the numerous risks and challenges associated with such expansion could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. To the extent we choose, in the future, to offer additional types of content beyond music and comedy, such as news, talk and sports programming, we will be subject to many of these same risks.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

        At January 31, 2013, we had federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $180.8 million and tax credit carryforwards of approximately $2.5 million. At January 31, 2013, we had state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $203.8 million and tax credit carryforwards of approximately of $4.3 million. Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an "ownership change," the corporation's ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be limited. In general, an "ownership change" will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by "5-percent shareholders" that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. As a result of prior equity issuances and other transactions in our stock, we have previously experienced "ownership changes" under section 382 of the Code and comparable state tax laws. We may also experience ownership changes in the future as a result of future transactions in our stock. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use our pre-change net operating loss carryforwards or other pre-change tax attributes to offset United States federal and state taxable income is subject to limitations.

We could be subject to additional income tax liabilities.

        We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our worldwide income tax provision and accruals for these taxes. For example, our effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory tax rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory tax rates, by losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize the related tax benefit, by changes in foreign currency exchange rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in the relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, principles and interpretations. We are also subject to tax audits in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional income tax liabilities against us.

If we cannot maintain our corporate culture as we grow, we could lose the innovation, teamwork and focus that contribute crucially to our business.

        We believe that a critical component of our success is our corporate culture, which we believe fosters innovation, encourages teamwork, cultivates creativity and promotes focus on execution. We have invested substantial time, energy and resources in building a highly collaborative team that works

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together effectively in a non-hierarchical environment designed to promote openness, honesty, mutual respect and pursuit of common goals. As we continue to develop the infrastructure of a public company and grow, we may find it difficult to maintain these valuable aspects of our corporate culture. Any failure to preserve our culture could negatively impact our future success, including our ability to attract and retain employees, encourage innovation and teamwork and effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives.

Federal, state and industry regulations as well as self-regulation related to privacy and data security concerns pose the threat of lawsuits and other liability, require us to expend significant resources, and may hinder our ability and our advertisers' ability to deliver relevant advertising.

        We collect and utilize demographic and other information, including personally identifiable information, from and about our listeners as they interact with our service. For example, to register for a Pandora account, our listeners must provide the following information: age, gender, zip code and e-mail address. Listeners must also provide their credit card or debit card numbers and other billing information in connection with additional service offerings. We also may collect information from our listeners when they enter information on their profile page, post comments on other listeners' pages, use other community or social networking features that are part of our service, participate in polls or contests or sign up to receive e-mail newsletters. Further, we and third parties use tracking technologies, including "cookies" and related technologies, to help us manage and track our listeners' interactions with our service and deliver relevant advertising. Third parties may, without our knowledge or consent, illegally obtain, transmit or utilize our listeners' personally identifiable information, or data associated with particular users or devices.

        Various federal and state laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of the data we receive from and about our listeners. Privacy groups and government bodies have increasingly scrutinized the ways in which companies link personal identities and data associated with particular users or devices with data collected through the internet, and we expect such scrutiny to continue to increase. Alleged violations of laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security, and any relevant claims, may expose us to potential liability and may require us to expend significant resources in responding to and defending such allegations and claims. Claims or allegations that we have violated laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security have resulted and could in the future result in negative publicity and a loss of confidence in us by our listeners and our advertisers, and may subject us to fines by credit card companies and loss of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments.

        Existing privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations, and various federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies may expand current or enact new laws regarding privacy and data security-related matters. We may find it necessary or desirable to join self-regulatory bodies or other privacy-related organizations that require compliance with their rules pertaining to privacy and data security. We also may be bound by contractual obligations that limit our ability to collect, use, disclose, and leverage listener data and to derive economic value from it. New laws, amendments to or re-interpretations of existing laws, rules of self-regulatory bodies, industry standards and contractual obligations, as well as changes in our listeners' expectations and demands regarding privacy and data security, may limit our ability to collect, use, and disclose, and to leverage and derive economic value from listener data. We may also be required to expend significant resources to adapt to these changes and to develop new ways to deliver relevant advertising or otherwise provide value to our advertisers. In particular, government regulators have proposed "do not track" mechanisms, and requirements that users affirmatively "opt-in" to certain types of data collection that, if enacted into law or adopted by self-regulatory bodies or as part of industry standards, could significantly hinder our ability to collect and use data relating to listeners. Restrictions on our ability to collect, access and harness listener data, or to use or disclose listener data

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or any profiles that we develop using such data, would in turn limit our ability to stream personalized music content to our listeners and offer targeted advertising opportunities to our advertising customers, each of which are critical to the success of our business.

        We have incurred, and will continue to incur, expenses to comply with privacy and security standards and protocols imposed by law, regulation, self-regulatory bodies, industry standards and contractual obligations. Increased regulation of data utilization and distribution practices, including self-regulation and industry standards, could increase our cost of operation, limit our ability to grow our operations or otherwise adversely affect our business.

If our security systems are breached, we may face civil liability and public perception of our security measures could be diminished, either of which would negatively affect our ability to attract listeners and advertisers.

        Techniques used to gain unauthorized access are constantly evolving, and we may be unable to anticipate or prevent unauthorized access to data pertaining to our listeners, including credit card and debit card information and other personally identifiable information. Like all internet services, our service, which is supported by our own systems and those of third-party vendors, is vulnerable to computer viruses, internet worms, break-ins, phishing attacks, attempts to overload servers with denial-of-service, attempts to access our servers to stream music or acquire playlists, or other attacks and similar disruptions from unauthorized use of our and third-party vendor computer systems, any of which could lead to system interruptions, delays, or shutdowns, causing loss of critical data or the unauthorized access to personally identifiable information. If an actual or perceived breach of security occurs of our systems or a vendor's systems, we may face civil liability and public perception of our security measures could be diminished, either of which would negatively affect our ability to attract listeners, which in turn would harm our efforts to attract and retain advertisers. We also would be required to expend significant resources to mitigate the breach of security and to address related matters. Unauthorized access to music or playlists would potentially create additional royalty obligations with no corresponding revenue.

        We cannot control the actions of third parties who may have access to the listener data we collect. The integration of the Pandora service with applications provided by third parties represents a significant growth opportunity for us, but we may not be able to control such third parties' use of listeners' data, ensure their compliance with the terms of our privacy policies, or prevent unauthorized access to, or use or disclosure of, listener information, any of which could hinder or prevent our efforts with respect to growth opportunity. In addition, these third party vendors may become the victim of security breaches, or have practices that may result in a breach and we may be responsible for those third party acts or failures to act.

        Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to maintain the security of data relating to our listeners and employees, to comply with our posted privacy policy, laws and regulations, rules of self-regulatory organizations, industry standards, and contractual provisions to which we may be bound, could result in the loss of confidence in us, or result in actions against us by governmental entities or others, all of which could result in litigation and financial losses, and could potentially cause us to lose listeners, advertisers, revenue, and employees.

We are subject to a number of risks related to credit card and debit card payments we accept.

        We accept payments exclusively through credit and debit card transactions. For credit and debit card payments, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time. An increase in those fees would require us to either increase the prices we charge for our products, which could cause us to lose subscribers and subscription revenue, or suffer an increase in our operating expenses, either of which could harm our operating results.

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        If we or any of our processing vendors have problems with our billing software, or the billing software malfunctions, it could have an adverse effect on our subscriber satisfaction and could cause one or more of the major credit card companies to disallow our continued use of their payment products. In addition, if our billing software fails to work properly and, as a result, we do not automatically charge our subscribers' credit cards on a timely basis or at all, we could lose subscription revenue, which would harm our operating results.

        We are also subject to payment card association operating rules, certification requirements and rules governing electronic funds transfers, which could change or be reinterpreted to make it more difficult for us to comply. Currently, we are implementing the steps that are required for us to become fully compliant with the Payment Card Industry, or PCI, Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, a security standard with which companies that collect, store, or transmit certain data regarding credit and debit cards, credit and debit card holders, and credit and debit card transactions are required to comply. Our failure to comply fully with PCI DSS may violate payment card association operating rules, federal and state laws and regulations, and the terms of our contracts with payment processors and merchant banks. Such failure to comply fully also may subject us to fines, penalties, damages, and civil liability, and may result in the loss of our ability to accept credit and debit card payments. Further, there is no guarantee that, even if PCI DSS compliance is achieved, we will maintain PCI DSS compliance or that such compliance will prevent illegal or improper use of our payment systems or the theft, loss, or misuse of data pertaining to credit and debit cards, credit and debit card holders and credit and debit card transactions.

        If we fail to adequately control fraudulent credit card transactions, we may face civil liability, diminished public perception of our security measures and significantly higher credit card-related costs, each of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        If we are unable to maintain our chargeback rate or refund rates at acceptable levels, credit card and debit card companies may increase our transaction fees or terminate their relationships with us. Any increases in our credit card and debit card fees could adversely affect our results of operations, particularly if we elect not to raise our rates for our service to offset the increase. The termination of our ability to process payments on any major credit or debit card would significantly impair our ability to operate our business.

If we fail to detect click fraud or other invalid clicks on ads, we could lose the confidence of our advertisers, which would cause our business to suffer.

        Our business relies on delivering positive results to our advertising customers. We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent and other invalid clicks or conversions that advertisers may perceive as undesirable. A major source of invalid clicks could result from click fraud where a listener intentionally clicks on ads for reasons other than to access the underlying content of the ads. If fraudulent or other malicious activity is perpetrated by others and we are unable to detect and prevent it, or if we choose to manage traffic quality in a way that advertisers find unsatisfactory, the affected advertisers may experience or perceive a reduced return on their investment in our advertising products, which could lead to dissatisfaction with our advertising programs, refusals to pay, refund demands or withdrawal of future business. This could damage our brand and lead to a loss of advertisers and revenue.

Our success depends upon the continued acceptance of online advertising as an alternative or supplement to offline advertising.

        The percentage of the advertising market allocated to online advertising lags the percentage of consumer offline consumption by a significant degree. Growth of our business will depend in large part on the reduction or elimination of this gap between online and offline advertising spending, which may not happen. Many advertisers still have limited experience with online advertising and may continue to

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devote significant portions of their advertising budgets to traditional, offline advertising media. Accordingly, we continue to compete for advertising dollars with traditional media, including broadcast radio.

        Although advertisers as a whole are spending an increasing amount of their overall advertising budget on online advertising, we face a number of challenges in growing our advertising revenue. We compete for advertising dollars with significantly larger and more established online marketing and media companies such as Facebook, Google, MSN and Yahoo!. We believe that the continued growth and acceptance of our online advertising products will depend on the perceived effectiveness and the acceptance of online advertising models generally, which is outside of our control. Any lack of growth in the market for online advertising could result in reduced revenue or increased marketing expenses, which would harm our operating results and financial condition.

Some of our services and technologies may use "open source" software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our service or require that we release the source code of certain services subject to those licenses.

        Some of our services and technologies may incorporate software licensed under so-called "open source" licenses, including, but not limited to, the GNU General Public License and the GNU Lesser General Public License. Such open source licenses typically require that source code subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. Few courts have interpreted open source licenses, and the manner in which these licenses may be interpreted and enforced is therefore subject to some uncertainty. We rely on multiple software programmers to design our proprietary technologies, and we do not exercise complete control over the development efforts of our programmers and we cannot be certain that our programmers have not incorporated open source software into our proprietary products and technologies or that they will not do so in the future. In the event that portions of our proprietary technology are determined to be subject to an open source license, we could be required to publicly release the affected portions of our source code, re-engineer all or a portion of our technologies, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our technologies, each of which could reduce or eliminate the value of our services and technologies and materially and adversely affect our ability to sustain and grow our business.

Government regulation of the internet is evolving, and unfavorable developments could have an adverse affect on our operating results.

        We are subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specific to the internet. Such laws and regulations cover taxation, user privacy, data collection and protection, copyrights, electronic contracts, sales procedures, automatic subscription renewals, credit card processing procedures, consumer protections, broadband internet access and content restrictions. We cannot guarantee that we have been or will be fully compliant in every jurisdiction, as it is not entirely clear how existing laws and regulations governing issues such as privacy, taxation and consumer protection apply to the internet. Moreover, as internet commerce continues to evolve, increasing regulation by federal, state and foreign agencies becomes more likely. The adoption of any laws or regulations that adversely affect the popularity or growth in use of the internet, including laws limiting internet neutrality, could decrease listener demand for our service offerings and increase our cost of doing business. Future regulations, or changes in laws and regulations or their existing interpretations or applications, could also hinder our operational flexibility, raise compliance costs and result in additional historical or future liabilities for us, resulting in adverse impacts on our business and our operating results.

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We could be adversely affected by regulatory restrictions on the use of mobile and other electronic devices in motor vehicles and legal claims are possible from use of such devices while driving.

        Regulatory and consumer agencies have increasingly focused on distraction to drivers that may be associated with use of mobile and other devices in motor vehicles. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation identified driver distraction as a top priority, and in February 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the "NHTSA") proposed new voluntary guidelines for visual-manual devices not related to the driving task that are integrated into motor vehicles. NHTSA also intends to propose guidelines applicable to after-market and portable devices that may be used in motor vehicles. Regulatory restrictions on how drivers and passengers in motor vehicles may engage with devices on which our service is broadcast could inhibit our ability to increase listener hours and generate ad revenue, which would harm our operating results. In addition, concerns over driver distraction due to use of mobile and other electronic devices to access our service in motor vehicles could result in litigation and negative publicity.

We rely on third parties to provide software and related services necessary for the operation of our business.

        We incorporate and include third-party software into and with our applications and service offerings and expect to continue to do so. The operation of our applications and service offerings could be impaired if errors occur in the third-party software that we use. It may be more difficult for us to correct any defects in third-party software because the development and maintenance of the software is not within our control. Accordingly, our business could be adversely affected in the event of any errors in this software. There can be no assurance that any third-party licensors will continue to make their software available to us on acceptable terms, to invest the appropriate levels of resources in their software to maintain and enhance its capabilities, or to remain in business. Any impairment in our relationship with these third-party licensors could harm our ability to maintain and expand the reach of our service, increase listener hours and sell advertising each of which could harm our operating results, cash flow and financial condition.

The impact of worldwide economic conditions, including the effect on advertising budgets and discretionary entertainment spending behavior, may adversely affect our business and operating results.

        Our financial condition is affected by worldwide economic conditions and their impact on advertising spending. Expenditures by advertisers generally tend to reflect overall economic conditions, and to the extent that the economy continues to stagnate, reductions in spending by advertisers could have a serious adverse impact on our business. In addition, we provide an entertainment service, and payment for our Pandora One subscription service may be considered discretionary on the part of some of our current and prospective subscribers or listeners who may choose to use a competing free service or to listen to Pandora without subscribing. To the extent that overall economic conditions reduce spending on discretionary activities, our ability to retain current and obtain new subscribers could be hindered, which could reduce our subscription revenue and negatively impact our business.

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fires, floods and other natural catastrophic events and to interruption by man-made problems such as computer viruses or terrorism.

        Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, fires, floods, power losses, telecommunications failures, terrorist attacks, acts of war, human errors, break-ins or similar events. For example, a significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire or flood, could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results and financial condition, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur. Our principal executive offices are located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region known for seismic activity. In addition, acts of terrorism could cause disruptions in our business or the economy as a whole. Our servers may also be vulnerable to computer viruses, break-ins and similar disruptions from unauthorized

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tampering with our computer systems, which could lead to interruptions, delays, loss of critical data or the unauthorized disclosure of confidential customer data. We currently have very limited disaster recovery capability, and our business interruption insurance may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur. As we rely heavily on our servers, computer and communications systems and the internet to conduct our business and provide high quality service to our listeners, such disruptions could negatively impact our ability to run our business, result in loss of existing or potential listeners and advertisers and increased maintenance costs, which would adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

Risks Related to Owning Our Common Stock

Our stock price has been and will likely continue to be volatile, and the value of an investment in our common stock may decline.

        The trading price of our common stock has been and is likely to continue to be volatile. In addition to the risk factors described in this section and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, factors that may cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate include, but are not limited to:

    our actual or anticipated operating performance and the operating performance of similar companies in the internet, radio or digital media spaces;

    general economic conditions and their impact on advertising spending;

    the overall performance of the equity markets;

    the number of shares of our common stock publicly owned and available for trading;

    threatened or actual litigation;

    changes in laws or regulations relating to our service;

    any major change in our board of directors or management;

    publication of research reports about us or our industry or changes in recommendations or withdrawal of research coverage by securities analysts; and

    sales or expected sales of shares of our common stock by us, and our officers, directors and significant stockholders.

        In addition, the stock market has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those affected companies. Securities class action litigation has often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the overall market and in the market price of a company's securities. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in very substantial costs, divert our management's attention and resources and harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research, publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business or make projections that exceed our actual results, our stock price and trading volume could decline.

        The trading market for our common stock depends in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If securities or industry analysts who cover us downgrade our stock or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price and trading volume to decline. Furthermore, such analysts publish their own projections regarding our

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actual results. These projections may vary widely from one another and may not accurately predict the results we actually achieve. Our stock price may decline if we fail to meet securities and industry analysts' projections.

Concentration of ownership among our officers, directors, large stockholders and their affiliates may prevent new investors from influencing corporate decisions.

        Our officers, directors, greater than 5% stockholders and their affiliates beneficially own or control, directly or indirectly, a majority of our outstanding common stock. As a result, if some of these persons or entities act together, they will have significant influence over the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets. This concentration of ownership could limit the ability of other stockholders to influence corporate matters and may have the effect of delaying an acquisition or cause the market price of our stock to decline.

Our charter documents, Delaware law and certain terms of our music licensing arrangements could discourage takeover attempts and lead to management entrenchment.

        Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change in control of the Company. These provisions could also make it difficult for stockholders to elect directors that are not nominated by the current members of our board of directors or take other corporate actions, including effecting changes in our management. These provisions include:

    a classified board of directors with three-year staggered terms, which could delay the ability of stockholders to change the membership of a majority of our board of directors;

    no cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;

    the ability of our board of directors to issue shares of preferred stock and to determine the price and other terms of those shares, including preferences and voting rights, without stockholder approval, which could be used to significantly dilute the ownership of a hostile acquiror;

    the exclusive right of our board of directors to elect a director to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of our board of directors or the resignation, death or removal of a director, which prevents stockholders from being able to fill vacancies on our board of directors;

    a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent, which forces stockholder action to be taken at an annual or special meeting of our stockholders;

    the requirement that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the chairman of our board of directors, our president, our secretary, or a majority vote of our board of directors, which could delay the ability of our stockholders to force consideration of a proposal or to take action, including the removal of directors;

    the requirement for the affirmative vote of holders of at least 662/3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of the voting stock, voting together as a single class, to amend the provisions of our certificate of incorporation relating to the issuance of preferred stock and management of our business or our bylaws, which may inhibit the ability of an acquiror to effect such amendments to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt;

    the ability of our board of directors, by majority vote, to amend the bylaws, which may allow our board of directors to take additional actions to prevent an unsolicited takeover and inhibit the ability of an acquiror to amend the bylaws to facilitate an unsolicited takeover attempt; and

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    advance notice procedures with which stockholders must comply to nominate candidates to our board of directors or to propose matters to be acted upon at a stockholders' meeting, which may discourage or deter a potential acquiror from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquiror's own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to obtain control of us.

Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law governs us. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time. In addition, if we are acquired, certain terms of our music licensing arrangements, including favorable royalty rates that currently apply to us, may not be available to an acquiror. These terms may discourage a potential acquiror from making an offer to buy us or may reduce the price such a party may be willing to offer.

ITEM 1B.    UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

        Not applicable.

ITEM 2.    PROPERTIES

        Our principal executive offices are located in Oakland, California in a 73,674 square-foot facility, under a lease expiring on September 30, 2017. We also lease regional offices in Chicago, Illinois; Santa Monica, California; and New York, New York and local sales offices at various locations within those regions.

        Our primary data centers are hosted by providers of hosting services, Equinix, in San Jose, California and Digital Realty Trust in Chicago, Illinois and are designed to be fault tolerant. Backup systems in California and Virginia can be brought online in the event of a failure at the primary data center. The backup sites enable additional fault tolerance and will support our continued growth.

        The data centers host the Pandora.com website and intranet applications that are used to manage the website content. The websites are designed to be fault-tolerant, with a collection of identical web servers connecting to an enterprise database. The design also includes load balancers, firewalls and routers that connect the components and provide connections to the internet. The failure of any individual component is not expected to affect the overall availability of our website.

        We believe that our current facilities are adequate to meet our needs for the near future and that suitable additional or alternative space will be available on commercially reasonable terms to accommodate our foreseeable future operations.

ITEM 3.    LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

        The material set forth in Note 5 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM 4.    MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

        Not applicable.

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PART II

ITEM 5.    MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

        Our common stock is traded on The New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "P." The following table sets forth the range of high and low intra-day sales prices per share of our common stock for the periods indicated, as reported by the NYSE.


PRICE RANGE OF OUR COMMON STOCK

        Our common stock has traded on the NYSE since June 15, 2011. Our initial public offering was priced at $16.00 per share on June 14, 2011.

 
  High   Low  

Fiscal Year Ended January 31, 2012

             

Second quarter (June 15, 2011 - July 31, 2011)

  $ 26.00   $ 12.16  

Third quarter (August 1, 2011 - October 31, 2011)

  $ 16.70   $ 9.33  

Fourth quarter (November 1, 2011 - January 31, 2012)

  $ 15.89   $ 9.15  

Fiscal Year Ended January 31, 2013

             

First quarter (February 1, 2012 - April 30, 2012)

  $ 15.25   $ 7.83  

Second quarter (May 1, 2012 - July 31, 2012)

  $ 12.30   $ 8.50  

Third quarter (August 1, 2012 - October 31, 2012)

  $ 12.57   $ 7.38  

Fourth quarter (November 1, 2012 - January 31, 2013)

  $ 11.90   $ 7.08  

        On January 31, 2013, the closing price per share of our common stock as reported on the NYSE was $11.52. As of March 13, 2013, there were approximately 85 holders of record of our common stock. The number of beneficial stockholders is substantially greater than the number of holders of record because a large portion of our common stock is held through brokerage firms.

Dividend Policy

        We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock and currently do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Instead, we intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for us in the operation and expansion of our business. Any future determination relating to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our future earnings, capital requirements, financial condition, future prospects, applicable Delaware law, which provides that dividends are only payable out of surplus or current net profits, and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant. In addition, our credit facility restricts our ability to pay dividends. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Indebtedness—Credit Facility" and note 7 to our financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Equity Compensation Plan Information

        For equity compensation plan information refer to Item 12 in Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Stock Price Performance Graph

        This performance graph shall not be deemed to be "soliciting material" or "filed" or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

        The following graph shows a comparison from June 15, 2011 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NYSE) through January 31, 2013 of the total cumulative return of our common stock with the total cumulative return of the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index (the "NYA Composite"), the Global X Social Media Index (the "SOCL") and the SPDR Morgan Stanley Technology MTK Index (the "MTK"). The figures represented below assume an investment of $100 in our common stock at the closing price of $17.42 on June 15, 2011 and in the NYA Composite and MTK on the same date. The SOCL was modeled from the inception of the index on November 15, 2011. Data for the NYA Composite, MTK and SOCL assume reinvestment of dividends. The comparisons in the graph are historical and are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of our common stock.


Comparison of Cumulative Total Return Among Pandora Media, Inc.,
New York Stock Exchange Composite Index, Global X Social Media Index and
SPDR Morgan Stanley Technology MTK Index

GRAPHIC

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

        Between February 1, 2011 and July 6, 2011 (the date of the filing of our registration statement on Form S-8, No. 333-175378), we (i) granted to our directors, officers, employees and consultants options to purchase 6,534,825 shares of our common stock with per share exercise prices ranging from $3.14 to $16.00 under our 2004 Stock Plan, as amended and (ii) issued and sold an aggregate of 2,695,771 shares of common stock that were not registered under the Securities Act to our directors, officers, employees and consultants pursuant to the exercise of stock options for cash consideration with aggregate exercise proceeds of approximately $0.6 million. These issuances were undertaken in reliance upon the exemption from registration requirements of Rule 701 of the Securities Act. The recipients of these shares of common stock represented their intentions to acquire the shares for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution, and appropriate legends were

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affixed to the share book entry records issued in these transactions. All recipients had adequate access, through their relationships with us, to information about us.

Use of Proceeds

        On June 14, 2011, our registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-172215) was declared effective for our IPO, and on June 20, 2011 we consummated the IPO consisting of 14,684,000 shares of our common stock for $16.00 per share, including 6,000,682 shares issued and sold by us. On July 19, 2011, we settled the underwriters' exercise of their IPO over-allotment option for an additional 350,000 shares issued and sold by us for $16.00 per share. The underwriters of the offering were Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., William Blair & Company, L.L.C., Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC. Following the sale of the shares in connection with the closing of the IPO, the offering terminated. As a result of the offering, including the underwriters' over-allotment option, we received total net proceeds of approximately $90.6 million, after deducting total expenses of $11.0 million, consisting of underwriting discounts and commissions of $7.1 million and offering-related expenses of approximately $3.9 million. No payments for such expenses were made directly or indirectly to (i) any of our officers or directors or their associates, (ii) any persons owning 10% or more of any class of our equity securities, or (iii) any of our affiliates other than the payment of certain legal expenses on behalf of our selling stockholders.

        Approximately $31.0 million of the net proceeds to us from the IPO, including the over-allotment, were used to pay accrued dividends on our preferred stock. The remaining net offering proceeds have been used for working capital.

ITEM 6.    SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

        The following selected consolidated financial and other data should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified by reference to, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," and our audited consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this report. The consolidated statements of operations and balance sheet data for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2009 and 2010 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of January 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this report. The consolidated statements of operations data for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of January 31, 2012 and 2013 were derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included in this report.

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The historical results presented below are not necessarily indicative of financial results to be achieved in future periods.

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands, except per share data)
 

Statement of Operations Data:

                               

Revenue:

                               

Advertising

  $ 18,247   $ 50,147   $ 119,333   $ 239,957   $ 375,218  

Subscription services and other

    1,086     5,042     18,431     34,383     51,927  
                       

Total revenue

    19,333     55,189     137,764     274,340     427,145  

Costs and expenses:

                               

Cost of revenue—content acquisition costs

    15,771     32,946     69,357     148,708     258,748  

Cost of revenue—other(1)

    7,398     7,892     11,559     22,759     32,019  

Product development(1)

    6,116     6,026     6,736     13,425     18,118  

Marketing and sales(1)

    13,265     17,426     36,250     65,010     107,715  

General and administrative(1)

    4,190     6,358     14,183     35,428     48,247  
                       

Total costs and expenses

    46,740     70,648     138,085     285,330     464,847  
                       

Loss from operations

    (27,407 )   (15,459 )   (321 )   (10,990 )   (37,702 )

Other income (expense), net

    (821 )   (1,294 )   (1,309 )   (5,042 )   (441 )
                       

Loss before provision for income taxes

    (28,228 )   (16,753 )   (1,630 )   (16,032 )   (38,143 )

Provision for income taxes

            (134 )   (75 )   (5 )
                       

Net loss

    (28,228 )   (16,753 )   (1,764 )   (16,107 )   (38,148 )

Deemed dividend on Series D and Series E

        (1,443 )            

Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (58 )   (218 )   (300 )   (110 )    

Increase in cumulative dividends payable upon conversion of liquidation of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (3,751 )   (6,461 )   (8,978 )   (3,648 )    
                       

Net loss attributable to common stockholders

  $ (32,037 ) $ (24,875 ) $ (11,042 ) $ (19,865 ) $ (38,148 )
                       

Basic and diluted net loss per share

  $ (5.45 ) $ (3.84 ) $ (1.03 ) $ (0.19 ) $ (0.23 )
                       

Weighted-average number of shares used in per share amounts—basic and diluted

    5,881     6,482     10,761     105,955     168,294  
                       

Key Metrics (unaudited):(2)

 
  Fiscal Year Ended
January 31,
 
 
  2010   2011   2012   2013  

Listener hours (in billions)(3)

    1.80     3.83     8.23     14.01  

 

 
  As of January 31,  
 
  2010   2011   2012   2013  

Active users (as of period end, in millions)(4)

    16     29.3     47.6     65.6  

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  As of January 31,  
 
  2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Balance Sheet Data:

                               

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 9,608   $ 16,164   $ 43,048   $ 44,126   $ 65,725  

Working capital (deficit)

    (3,114 )   18,929     36,715     89,218     82,644  

Total assets

    16,685     40,277     99,209     178,015     218,832  

Preferred stock warrant liability

    49     300     1,027          

Convertible preferred stock

    62,560     104,806     126,662          

Common stock and additional paid-in capital

    726     1     2,309     205,971     238,569  

Total stockholders' equity (deficit)

    (63,510 )   (87,771 )   (83,010 )   104,540     98,989  

(1)
Includes stock-based compensation as follows:

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cost of revenue—other

  $ 14   $ 18   $ 85   $ 582   $ 1,214  

Product development

    54     125     329     1,638     7,462  

Marketing and sales

    188     225     549     4,866     12,294  

General and administrative

    77     109     492     2,101     4,530  
                       

Total stock-based compensation

  $ 333   $ 477   $ 1,455   $ 9,187   $ 25,500  
                       
(2)
Listener hours and active users are defined in the section entitled "Key Metrics" in Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 7.    MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

        You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ substantially from those referred to herein due to a number of factors, including but not limited to those discussed below and elsewhere in this report, particularly in the sections entitled "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Industry Data" and "Risk Factors."

Overview

        Pandora is the leader in internet radio in the United States, offering a personalized experience for each of our listeners. We have pioneered a new form of radio—one that uses intrinsic qualities of music to initially create stations and then adapts playlists in real-time based on the individual feedback of each listener. As of January 31, 2013, we had approximately 175 million registered users, which we define as the total number of accounts that have been created for our service at period end. As of January 31, 2013 approximately 140 million registered users have accessed Pandora through smartphones and tablets. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013, we streamed 14.01 billion hours of radio and as of January 31, 2013, we had 65.6 million active users during the prior 30 day period. According to a December 2012 report by Triton, we have more than a 70% share of internet radio among the top 20 stations and networks in the United States. Since we launched our free, advertising-supported radio service in 2005 our listeners have created over 4.0 billion stations.

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        We derive the substantial majority of our revenue from the sale of display, audio and video advertising for delivery across our traditional computer-based, mobile and other connected device platforms. We also offer a paid subscription service to listeners, which we call Pandora One. While historically our revenue growth was principally attributable to selling display advertising through our traditional computer-based platform, we now generate a majority of our revenue from mobile and other connected devices and our advertising includes a mix of audio, display and video. This expansion of our services also presents an opportunity for us to reach our audience anytime, anywhere they enjoy music, and therefore offer additional distribution channels to current and potential advertisers for delivery of their advertising messages.

        Growth in our active users and distribution platforms has fueled a corresponding growth in listener hours. Our total number of listener hours is a key driver for both revenue generation opportunities and content acquisition costs, which are the largest component of our operating expenses:

    Revenue.  Listener hours define the number of opportunities we have to sell advertisements, which we refer to as inventory. Our ability to attract advertisers depends in large part on our ability to offer sufficient inventory within desired demographics. In turn, our ability to generate revenue depends on the extent to which we are able to sell the inventory we have.

    Cost of Revenue—Content Acquisition Costs.  The number of sound recordings we transmit to users of the Pandora service, as generally reflected by listener hours, drives substantially all of our content acquisition costs, although certain of our licensing agreements require us to pay fees for public performances based on a percentage of revenue.

      We pay royalties to the copyright owners (or their agents) of each sound recording that we stream and to the copyright owner (or their agents) of the musical work that underlies that sound recording, subject to certain exclusions. We record these royalties as content acquisition costs. Under U.S. law, we are granted the right to stream any lawfully released sound recordings, subject to compliance with certain statutory and regulatory requirements. Royalties for sound recordings are negotiated with and paid to record labels or to SoundExchange, a performance rights organization ("PRO") authorized to collect royalties on behalf of all sound recording copyright owners. Royalties for musical works are negotiated with and paid to publishing companies such as Sony ATV and Entertainment World Inc. or EMI; or PROs such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP; Broadcast Music, Inc., or BMI; and SESAC Inc. or SESAC. Royalties are calculated based on sound recordings streamed, revenue earned or other usage measures. If we cannot agree on royalty rates, the dispute will be resolved by the Copyright Royalty Board, or CRB, in the case of SoundExchange, and by the rate court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the case of ASCAP and BMI. In November 2012, we filed a petition in rate court to request a determination of reasonable fees and terms with ASCAP. In May 2011, we started streaming spoken word comedy content, for which the underlying literary works are not currently entitled to eligibility for licensing by any PRO for the United States. Rather, pursuant to industry-wide custom and practice, this content is performed absent a specific license from any such performing rights organization. However, we pay royalties to SoundExchange at federally negotiated rates for the right to stream this spoken word comedy content.

        Given the royalty structures in effect with respect to the public performance of sound recordings in the United States, our content acquisition costs increase with each additional listener hour, regardless of whether we are able to generate more revenue. As such, our ability to achieve and sustain profitability and operating leverage depends on our ability to increase our revenue per hour of streaming through increased advertising sales across all of our delivery platforms. While we have generated revenue from our advertising products at a rate that exceeds the growth in listener hours in certain fiscal years for traditional computers and for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013 for mobile

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and other connected devices, to date we have not been able to grow our total advertising revenue at a rate that exceeds the growth in our listener hours.

        As our mobile listenership increases, we face new challenges in optimizing our advertising products for delivery on mobile and other connected device platforms and monetizing inventory generated by listeners using these platforms. The mobile digital advertising market is at an early stage of development, with lower overall spending levels than traditional online advertising markets, and faces technical challenges due to fragmented platforms and lack of standard audience measurement protocols.

        In addition, our strategy includes increasing the number of ad campaigns for traditional computer, mobile and other connected device platforms sold to local advertisers, placing us in more direct competition with broadcast radio for advertiser spending, especially for audio advertisements. By contrast, historically our display advertisers have been predominantly national brands. To successfully monetize our growing listener hours, we may have to convince a substantial base of local advertisers of the benefits of advertising on the Pandora service including demonstrating the effectiveness and relevance of our advertising products, and in particular, audio advertising products, across the range of our delivery platforms.

        Our total revenue has grown from $137.8 million in fiscal 2011 to $427.1 million in fiscal 2013. At the same time, our total cost and expenses have grown from $138.1 million in fiscal 2011 to $464.8 million in fiscal 2013, principally as a result of the growth in content acquisition costs. As the volume of music we stream to listeners in the United States increases, our content acquisition costs will also increase, regardless of whether we are able to generate more revenue. In addition, we expect to invest heavily in our operations to support anticipated future growth. One of our key objectives is furthering our market leadership in internet radio, which we believe will strengthen our brand and help us to convince advertisers to allocate spending towards our ad products. As such, a central focus is adding, retaining and engaging listeners to build market share and grow our listener hours. For the foreseeable future, we expect that there will be periods during which our ability to monetize listener hours will lag the growth of listener hours. As our business matures, we expect that the growth rate in our listener hours will decline relative to our increased ability to monetize listener hours. However, we expect to incur annual losses on a U.S. GAAP basis in the near term.

    Key Metrics:

        The tables below set forth our listener hours for fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013 and our active users as of the end of each of those periods along with our total, traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices ad RPMs for those periods.

 
  Fiscal Year Ended
January 31,
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Listener hours (in billions)(1)

    3.83     8.23     14.01  

 

 
  As of January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Active users (end of period, in millions)

    29.3     47.6     65.6  

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    Advertising revenue per thousand listener hours

 
  Fiscal year ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Total

  $ 33.65   $ 32.22   $ 29.13  

Traditional computer

    61.60     62.68     53.73  

Mobile and other connected devices

    13.70     21.05     22.53  

        Listener Hours.    We track listener hours because it is a key indicator of the growth of our business. We also track the number of active users as an additional indicator of the breadth of audience we are reaching at a given time, which is particularly important to potential advertisers.

        We calculate listener hours based on the total bytes served for each track that is requested and served from our servers, as measured by our internal analytics systems, whether or not a listener listens to the entire track. We believe this server-based approach is the best methodology to forecast advertising inventory given that advertisements are frequently served in between tracks and are often served upon triggers such as a listener clicking thumbs-down or choosing to skip a track. To the extent that third-party measurements of listener hours are not calculated using a similar server-based approach, the third-party measurements may differ from our measurements.

        Active Users.    Active users are defined as the number of distinct registered users that have requested audio from our servers within the trailing 30 days to the end of the final calendar month of the period. The number of active users may overstate the number of unique individuals who actively use our service within a month as one individual may register for, and use, multiple accounts.

        Ad RPMs.    We track advertising revenue per thousand listener hours for our free, advertising supported service ("ad RPMs") because it is a key indicator of our ability to monetize advertising inventory created by our listener hours. We focus on total ad RPMs across all of our delivery platforms. RPMs compare advertising revenue generated in a given period to advertising supported listener hours in the period and we believe such total ad RPMs to be the central top-line indicator for evaluating the results of our monetization efforts. We calculate total ad RPMs by dividing advertising revenue we generate by the number of thousands of listener hours of our advertising-based service.

        We also provide estimates of disaggregated total and ad RPMs for our traditional computer platform as well as our mobile and other connected devices platforms, which we calculate by dividing the estimated advertising revenue generated through the respective platforms by the number of thousands of listener hours of our advertising-based service delivered through such platforms. While we believe that such disaggregated RPMs provide directional insight for evaluating our efforts to monetize our service by platform, we do not validate disaggregated RPMs to the level of financial statement reporting. Such metrics should be seen as indicative only and as management's best estimate. We continue to refine our systems and methodologies used to categorize RPMs across our delivery platforms. Period-to-period results should not be regarded as precise nor can they be relied upon as indicative of results for future periods. In addition, as our business matures and in response to technological evolutions, we anticipate that the relevant indicators we monitor for evaluating our business may change.

        Total ad RPMs. 2011 Compared to 2012 and 2012 Compared to 2013.    Total ad RPMs decreased compared to the respective prior year periods due to the continuing shift in the platform mix between traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices as well as an increase in listener hours, which was in part the result of the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap on traditional computers in September 2011 which created increased advertising inventory not fully offset by advertising sales.

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        Traditional computer ad RPMs. 2011 Compared to 2012    Traditional computer ad RPMs increased compared to the respective prior year period, primarily due to revenue growing at a faster pace than listener hours due to the growth of the sales force as well as the maturation of the underlying market.

        Traditional computer ad RPMs. 2012 Compared to 2013.    Traditional computer ad RPMs decreased compared to the respective prior year period, primarily due to listener hours growing at a faster pace than revenue due in part to the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap which created increased listener hours not fully offset by increased advertising sales and to our sales force's increased focus on improving mobile advertising sales.

        Mobile and other connected device ad RPMs. 2011 Compared to 2012 and 2012 Compared to 2013.    Mobile and other connected device ad RPMs increased compared to the respective prior year periods primarily due to mobile and connected device revenue growing at a faster pace than listening hours. Faster relative growth in revenue was driven by our continued focus on monetizing our mobile inventory including the introduction of new advertising products, particularly audio advertising, for these devices. The increase in RPMs for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 was partially offset by the effect of direct advertising sales to one customer which accounted for 9% of revenue in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012.

        Specific to the revenue component of the RPM ratio, total advertising revenue increased by approximately 101% during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012 compared to the prior year period, with advertising revenue on mobile and other connected devices increasing approximately 305% and advertising revenue on traditional computers increasing by approximately 38%.

        Total advertising revenue increased by approximately 56% during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 compared to the prior year period, with advertising revenue on mobile and other connected devices increasing by approximately 99% and advertising revenue on traditional computers increasing by approximately 17% respectively.

        In addition to ad RPMs, we also track total RPMs, which measure total revenue, including both advertising and subscription services and other revenue, compared to total listener hours. We calculate total RPMs by dividing the estimated total revenue generated through the respective platforms by the total number of thousands of listener hours delivered through such platforms. While we believe that such disaggregated total RPMs provide directional insight for evaluating our efforts to monetize our service by platform, we do not validate disaggregated total RPMs to the level of financial statement reporting. Such metrics should be seen as indicative only and as management's best estimate. Total RPMs for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 were to $34.95, $33.32 and $30.49, respectively. Within this, mobile and other connected device total RPMs for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013, were $14.65, $21.93 and $23.83 respectively. Traditional computer RPMs for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013, were $58.93, $58.84 and $52.36, respectively. These changes were driven by the same factors mentioned above within the discussion of ad RPMs.

Basis of Presentation

    Revenue

        Advertising Revenue.    We generate advertising revenue primarily from display, audio and video advertising, which is typically sold on a cost-per-thousand impressions, or CPM, basis. Advertising campaigns typically range from 1 to 12 months, and advertisers generally pay us based on a minimum number of delivered impressions or the satisfaction of other criteria, such as click-throughs. We may earn referral revenue when, for example, a listener clicks on an advertisement and signs up for membership with an advertiser. We also have arrangements with advertising agencies and brokers pursuant to which we provide the ability to sell advertising inventory on our service directly to advertisers. We report revenue under these arrangements net of amounts due to agencies and brokers.

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        In fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013, advertising revenue accounted for 87%, 87% and 88% of our total revenue, respectively, and we expect that advertising will comprise a substantial majority of revenue for the foreseeable future.

        Our ability to attract advertisers, and ultimately generate advertising revenue, is critical to our financial success. We believe that we provide a unique and commercially attractive advertising opportunity for our advertisers, including the ability to run multi-platform ad campaigns and to present ads while our listeners actively engage with our service. Although advertisers as a whole are spending an increasing amount of their advertising budget on online advertising, we face a number of challenges. Specifically, we compete for advertising dollars with significantly larger and more established online marketing and media companies, such as Facebook, Google, MSN and Yahoo!. In addition, our audio advertising products target advertisers that traditionally advertise on broadcast radio and are less familiar with internet radio advertising media.

        Subscription Services and Other Revenue.    We generate subscription revenue through the sale and activation of access to a premium version of the Pandora service for annual or monthly subscription fees of $36 per year or approximately $4 per month, respectively, which currently includes an ad free environment and, on devices that support it, higher quality audio. We receive the full amount of the subscription payment at the time of sale. Subscription revenue derived from direct sales to listeners is recognized on a straight-line basis over the duration of the subscription period. Subscription revenue derived from sales through some mobile operating systems may be subject to refund or cancellation terms which may affect the timing or amount of the subscription revenue recognition. When refund rights exist, we recognize revenue when services have been provided and the rights lapse or when we have developed sufficient transaction history to estimate a reserve. As of January 31, 2013, we deferred revenue of approximately $5.1 million related to refund rights.

        Until September 2011, for listeners who are not subscribers, we limited usage of our advertising-supported service on desktop and laptop computers to 40 hours per month. Listeners who reached this limit could continue to use this service by paying $0.99 for the remainder of the month. We included this revenue in subscription services and other revenue. In September 2011, we effectively eliminated the 40 hour per month listening cap on desktop and laptop computers by increasing the cap to 320 hours of listening per month, which almost none of our listeners exceed. In fiscal 2013, subscription services and other revenue accounted for 12% of our total revenue.

        Deferred Revenue.    Our deferred revenue consists principally of both prepaid but unrecognized subscription revenue and advertising fees received or billed in advance of the delivery or completion of the delivery of services. Deferred revenue is recognized as revenue when the services are provided and all other revenue recognition criteria have been met.

    Costs and Expenses

        Costs and expenses consist of cost of revenue, product development, marketing and sales, general and administrative and content acquisition costs. Content acquisition costs are the most significant component of our costs and expenses followed by employee-related costs, which includes stock-based compensation expenses. We expect to continue to hire additional employees in order to support our anticipated growth and our product development initiatives. In any particular period, the timing of additional hires could materially affect our operating expenses, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue. We anticipate that our costs and expenses will increase in the future.

        Cost of Revenue—Content Acquisition Costs.    Content acquisition costs principally consist of royalties paid for streaming music or other content to our listeners. Royalties are calculated using negotiated rates documented in master royalty agreements and are based on both percentage of revenue and listening metrics. For example in fiscal 2012 and 2013, under some royalty arrangements

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we paid a fee per track, while in other cases we paid royalties based on a percentage of our revenue. In still other cases we pay royalties based on a combination of these metrics. In fiscal 2010 and 2011 we also paid royalties on a fee per session basis.

        We periodically test our royalty calculation methods to ensure we are accurately reporting and paying royalties. The performance rights organizations have the right to audit our playlist and payment records, and any such audit could result in disputes over whether we have paid the proper royalties. If such a dispute were to occur, we could be required to pay additional royalties and the amounts involved could be material.

        For royalty arrangements under negotiation, we accrue for estimated royalties based on the available facts and circumstances and adjust these estimates as more information becomes available. The results of any finalized negotiation may be materially different from our estimates.

        In July 2009 we, together with other webcasters, negotiated new royalty rates on performances with SoundExchange for calendar years 2006 to 2015. The agreement reduced rates originally established by the Copyright Royalty Board for calendar years 2006 to 2010 and established new rates for calendar years 2011 to 2015.

        Cost of Revenue—Other.    Cost of revenue consists of hosting costs, infrastructure and the employee and employee-related costs associated with supporting those functions. Hosting costs consist of content streaming, maintaining our internet radio service and creating and serving advertisements through third-party ad servers. Infrastructure costs consist of equipment, software, facilities and depreciation. We make payments to third-party ad servers for the period the advertising impressions or click-through actions are delivered or occur, and accordingly, we record this as a cost of revenue in the related period.

        Product Development.    Product development expenses consist of employee compensation, information technology, consulting, facilities-related expenses and costs associated with supporting consumer connected-device manufacturers in implementing our service in their products. We incur product development expenses primarily for improvements to our website and the Pandora app, development of new advertising products and development and enhancement of our personalized station(s) generating system. We have generally expensed product development as incurred. Certain website development and internal use software development costs may be capitalized when specific criteria are met. In such cases, the capitalized amounts are amortized over the useful life of the related application once the application is placed in service. We intend to continue making significant investments in developing new products and enhancing the functionality of our existing products.

        Marketing and Sales.    Marketing and sales expenses consist of employee and employee-related costs including salaries, commissions and benefits related to employees in sales, marketing and advertising departments. In addition, marketing and sales expenses include external sales and marketing expenses such as third-party marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations expenses, transactional subscription processing fees on mobile platforms, and infrastructure costs such as facility and other supporting overhead costs. We expect marketing and sales expenses to increase as we hire additional personnel to build out our sales force and ad operations team and expand our business development team to establish relationships with manufacturers of an increasing number of connected devices.

        General and Administrative.    General and administrative expenses include employee and employee-related costs consisting of salaries and benefits for finance, accounting, legal, internal information technology and other administrative personnel. In addition, general and administrative expenses include professional services costs for outside legal and accounting services, and infrastructure costs for facility, supporting overhead costs and merchant and other transaction costs, such as credit card fees. We

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expect to incur significant additional expenses in future periods as we continue to invest in corporate infrastructure, including adding personnel and systems to our finance and administrative functions.

        Provision for Income Taxes.    We have historically been subject to income taxes only in the United States. As we expand our operations outside the United States, we have become subject to taxation based on the foreign statutory rates and our effective tax rate could fluctuate accordingly.

        Income taxes are computed using the asset and liability method, under which deferred tax assets and liabilities are determined based on the difference between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted statutory income tax rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established when necessary to reduce net deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

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Results of Operations

        The following tables present our results of operations for the periods indicated and as a percentage of total revenue. The period-to-period comparisons of results are not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Revenue:

                   

Advertising

  $ 119,333   $ 239,957   $ 375,218  

Subscription services and other

    18,431     34,383     51,927  
               

Total revenue

    137,764     274,340     427,145  

Costs and expenses:

                   

Cost of revenue—Content acquisition costs

    69,357     148,708     258,748  

Cost of revenue—Other(1)

    11,559     22,759     32,019  

Product development(1)

    6,736     13,425     18,118  

Marketing and sales(1)

    36,250     65,010     107,715  

General and administrative(1)

    14,183     35,428     48,247  
               

Total costs and expenses

    138,085     285,330     464,847  
               

Loss from operations

    (321 )   (10,990 )   (37,702 )

Other income (expense):

                   

Interest income

    31     59     95  

Interest expense

    (612 )   (616 )   (535 )

Other expense, net

    (728 )   (4,485 )   (1 )
               

Loss before provision for income taxes

    (1,630 )   (16,032 )   (38.143 )

Provision for income taxes

    134     75     5  
               

Net loss

    (1,764 )   (16,107 )   (38,148 )

Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (300 )   (110 )    

Increase in cumulative dividends payable upon conversion of liquidation of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (8,978 )   (3,648 )    
               

Net loss attributable to common stockholders

  $ (11,042 ) $ (19,865 ) $ (38,148 )
               

Basic and diluted loss per share

  $ (1.03 ) $ (0.19 ) $ (0.23 )
               

Weighted-average number of shares used in per share amounts (in thousands):

    10,761     105,955     168,294  
               

(1)
Includes stock-based compensation as follows:

Cost of revenue—other

  $ 85   $ 582   $ 1,214  

Product development

    329     1,638     7,462  

Marketing and sales

    549     4,866     12,294  

General and administrative

    492     2,101     4,530  
               

Total stock-based compensation

  $ 1,455   $ 9,187   $ 25,500  

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  Fiscal Year Ended
January 31,
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Revenue:

                   

Advertising

    87 %   87 %   88 %

Subscription services and other

    13     13     12  
               

Total revenue

    100     100     100  

Costs and expenses:

                   

Cost of revenue—Content acquisition costs

    50     54     61  

Cost of revenue—Other(1)

    8     8     7  

Product and development(1)

    5     5     4  

Marketing and sales(1)

    26     24     25  

General and administrative(1)

    10     13     11  
               

Total costs and expenses

    100     104     108  
               

Loss from operations

        (4 )   (8 )

Other income (expense):

                   

Interest income

             

Interest expense

             

Other expense, net

    (1 )   (2 )    
               

Loss before provision for income taxes

    (1 )   (6 )   (8 )

Provision for income taxes

             
               

Net loss

    (1 )%   (6 )%   (8 )%
               

(1)
Includes stock-based compensation as follows:

Cost of revenue—other

    0.1 %   0.2 %   0.3 %

Product development

    0.2     0.6     1.7  

Marketing and sales

    0.4     1.8     2.9  

General and administrative

    0.4     0.8     1.1  

Comparison of Fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013

    Revenue

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Advertising

  $ 119,333   $ 239,957   $ 375,218   $ 120,624   $ 135,261  

Subscription services and other

    18,431     34,383     51,927     15,952     17,544  
                       

Total revenues

  $ 137,764   $ 274,340   $ 427,145   $ 136,576   $ 152,805  
                       

 

 
  Fiscal year ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Total ad RPMs

  $ 33.65   $ 32.22   $ 29.13  

        2012 Compared to 2013.    Advertising revenue increased $135.3 million or approximately 56% primarily due to an approximate 101% increase in the number of ads delivered, partially offset by a decrease in the average price per ad of approximately 22% due to fluctuations in the sales distribution mix amongst direct sales, third-party network sales, and other channels and the platform mix between

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traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices. The increase in the number of ads delivered was primarily due to an increase in total listener hours of approximately 70% which increased the volume of advertising inventory, as well as an increase in our sales force by approximately 55% year-over-year to sell such advertising inventory. Subscription revenue increased $17.5 million due to an increase in the number of subscribers.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    Advertising revenue increased $120.6 million or approximately 101% in primarily due to an approximate 107% increase in the number of ads delivered, partially offset by a decrease in the average price per ad of approximately 3% due to fluctuations in the sales distribution mix amongst direct sales, third-party network sales, and other channels and the platform mix between traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices. The increase in the number of ads delivered was primarily due to an increase in total listener hours of approximately 115% which increased the volume of advertising inventory, as well as an increase in our sales force by approximately 53% year-over-year to sell such advertising inventory. Subscription revenue increased $16.0 million due to an increase in the number of subscribers.

        Total ad RPMs 2012 Compared to 2013.    Total ad RPMs decreased compared to the respective prior year period due to the continuing shift in the platform mix between traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices as well as an increase in listener hours, in part the result of the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap on traditional computers in September 2011 which created increased advertising inventory not fully offset by advertising sales.

        Total ad RPMs 2011 Compared to 2012.    Total ad RPMs decreased compared to the respective prior year period due to the continuing shift in the platform mix between traditional computer and mobile and other connected devices as well as an increase in listener hours, in part the result of the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap on traditional computers in September 2011 which created increased advertising inventory not fully offset by advertising sales.

    Cost and Expenses

    Cost of Revenue—Content Acquisition Costs

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cost of Revenue—Content acquisition costs

  $ 69,357   $ 148,708   $ 258,748   $ 79,351   $ 110,040  

        The following table presents our estimated content acquisition costs for our advertising-based service attributable to our traditional computer platform and our mobile and other connected device platforms as percentages of the estimated advertising revenue attributable to such platforms.

 
  Fiscal year ended
January 31,
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Traditional computer

    27 %   29 %   35 %

Mobile and other connected devices

    109 %   78 %   76 %

        The majority of our royalties are payable based on a fee per track, while in other cases our royalties are payable based on a percentage of our revenue or a combination of per track and revenue metrics. We estimate our advertising-based content acquisition costs attributable to specific platforms by allocating costs from royalties payable based on a fee per track to the platform for which the track is served and by allocating costs from royalties based on a percentage of our revenue in accordance with the overall percentage of our revenue estimated to be attributable to such platforms. While we believe

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that comparing disaggregated content acquisition costs and revenues across our delivery platforms may provide directional insight for evaluating our efforts to monetize the rapid adoption of our service on mobile and other connected devices, we do not validate such disaggregated metrics to the level of financial statement reporting. We continue to refine our systems and methodologies used to categorize such metrics across our delivery platforms and the period-to-period comparisons of results are not necessarily indicative of results for future periods.

        2012 compared to 2013.    Content acquisition costs increased $110.0 million due to increased royalty payments driven by increased listener hours and higher royalty rates due to scheduled rate increases and higher revenue. Content acquisition costs as a percentage of total revenue increased from 54% to 61%, primarily due to the growth in listener hours on mobile devices for which we have not been able to as effectively generate revenue as compared to listener hours on traditional computers, and to the rate increases. Estimated content acquisition costs as a percentage of the revenue attributable to our traditional computer platform increased from 29% to 35%, primarily due to the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap on traditional computers, which created increased listener hours not fully offset by increased advertising sales as well as the rate increases. Estimated content acquisition costs as a percentage of the revenue attributable to our mobile and other connected devices platforms decreased from 78% to 76%, primarily due to the an increase in advertising sales on those platforms.

        2011 compared to 2012.    Content acquisition costs increased $79.4 million due to increased royalty payments driven by increased listener hours and higher royalty rates due to scheduled rate increases and higher revenue. Content acquisition costs as a percentage of total revenue increased from 50% to 54%, primarily due to the growth in listener hours on mobile devices for which we have not been able to as effectively generate revenue as compared to listener hours on traditional computers. Estimated content acquisition costs as a percentage of the revenue attributable to our traditional computer platform increased from 27% to 29%, primarily due to the effective elimination of the 40 hour per month free listening cap on traditional computers, which created increased listener hours not fully offset by increased advertising sales. Estimated content acquisition costs as a percentage of the revenue attributable to our mobile and other connected devices platforms decreased from 109% to 78%, primarily due to an improvement in our ability to monetize mobile and other connected device inventory driven in part by the introduction of new advertising products for these devices as well as the effect of direct advertising sales to one customer which accounted for 9% of revenue in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012.

        Cost of Revenue—Other

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cost of revenue—Other

  $ 11,559   $ 22,759   $ 32,019   $ 11,200   $ 9,260  

        2012 Compared to 2013.    Cost of revenue increased $9.3 million due to a $5.3 million increase in hosting services costs as a result of a 70% increase in listener hours, a $2.0 million increase in employee-related expenses driven by a 24% increase in headcount and $1.8 million in higher infrastructure costs.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    Cost of revenue increased $11.2 million due to a $5.8 million increase in hosting services costs as a result of a 109% increase in listener hours, a $2.7 million increase in employee-related expenses driven by a 78% increase in headcount and $2.4 million in higher infrastructure costs.

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    Product Development

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Product development

  $ 6,736   $ 13,425   $ 18,118   $ 6,689   $ 4,693  

        2012 Compared to 2013.    Product development expenses increased $4.7 million primarily due to $5.0 million higher employee-related expenses driven by a 24% increase in headcount, partially offset by lower professional fees.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    Product development expenses increased $6.7 million primarily due to $6.0 million higher employee-related expenses driven by a 46% increase in headcount.

    Marketing and Sales

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Marketing and sales

  $ 36,250   $ 65,010   $ 107,715   $ 28,760   $ 42,705  

        2012 Compared to 2013.    Marketing and sales expenses increased $42.7 million primarily due to $33.2 million higher employee-related costs, driven by a 43% increase in headcount, an increase in marketing expenses of $5.6 million primarily related to a $4.8 million increase in transactional subscription processing fees on mobile platforms and marketing research and event costs and $3.0 million in higher infrastructure costs related to facilities and equipment.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    Marketing and sales expenses increased $28.8 million primarily due to $22.5 million higher employee-related costs, driven by a 95% increase in headcount, an increase in external sales and marketing expenses of $3.9 million related to search engine marketing, marketing research and event costs, and $2.0 million in higher infrastructure costs related to facilities and equipment.

    General and Administrative

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

General and administrative

  $ 14,183   $ 35,428   $ 48,247   $ 21,245   $ 12,819  

        2012 Compared to 2013.    General and administrative expenses increased $12.8 million primarily due to a $10.4 million increase in employee-related expenses driven by a 38% increase in headcount and a $1.4 million increase in infrastructure costs.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    General and administrative expenses increased $21.2 million primarily due to a $9.7 million increase in employee-related expenses driven by a 64% increase in headcount, a $7.7 million increase in professional services fees, and a $2.9 million increase in infrastructure costs.

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    Other Income (Expense)

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,    
   
 
 
  FY 2011 to
FY 2012
$ Change
  FY 2012 to
FY 2013
$ Change
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Interest income

  $ 31   $ 59   $ 95   $ 28   $ 36  

Interest expense

    (612 )   (616 )   (535 )   (4 )   81  

Other income (expense)

    (728 )   (4,485 )   (1 )   (3,757 )   4,484  
                       

Total other income (expense)

  $ (1,309 ) $ (5,042 ) $ (441 ) $ (3,733 ) $ 4,601  
                       

        2012 Compared to 2013.    Total other income (expense) decreased $4.6 million primarily driven by a $4.5 million decrease in expenses related to the increase in fair value of our preferred stock warrants liability in the prior year. The liability was eliminated in June 2011.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    Total other income (expense) increased $3.7 million primarily driven by a $3.6 million increase in expenses due to the increase in the fair value of our preferred stock warrants liability.

    Provision for Income Taxes

        2012 Compared to 2013.    The income tax provision decreased by $70,000 from $75,000 to $5,000 as a result of changes in state tax statutes which resulted in lower tax obligations in some states.

        2011 Compared to 2012.    The income tax provision decreased by $59,000 from $134,000 to $75,000 as a result of generating tax losses during fiscal year 2012.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

        As of January 31, 2013 we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $89.0 million, which consisted of cash and money market funds held at major financial institutions, commercial paper and investment-grade corporate debt securities. Our principal uses of cash during the fiscal year ending January 31, 2013 were funding our operations, as described below, and capital expenditures.

    Sources of Funds

        We believe, based on our current operating plan, that our existing cash and cash equivalents and available borrowings under our credit facility will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months.

        From time to time, we may explore additional financing sources and means to lower our cost of capital, which could include equity, equity-linked and debt financing. In addition, in connection with any future acquisitions, we may require additional funding which may be provided in the form of additional debt, equity or equity-linked financing or a combination thereof. There can be no assurance that any additional financing will be available to us on acceptable terms.

    Our Indebtedness

        Credit Facility.    On May 13, 2011, we entered into a $30 million credit facility with a syndicate of financial institutions. The amount of borrowings available under the credit facility at any time is based on our monthly accounts receivable balance at such time, and the amounts borrowed are collateralized by our personal property (including such accounts receivable but excluding intellectual property). At our option, drawn amounts under the credit facility will bear an interest rate of either (i) an adjusted

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London Interbank offered, or LIBO, rate plus (A) 3.00% (if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million) or (B) 2.75% (if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million) or (ii) an alternate base rate plus (x) 2.00% (if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million) or (y) 1.75% (if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million). The adjusted LIBO rate is the LIBO rate for a particular interest period multiplied by the statutory reserve rate. The alternate base rate is the greatest of the prime rate, the federal funds effective rate plus 0.5% and the adjusted LIBO rate plus 1%. In addition, we are obligated to pay a non-usage charge on the available balance. The non-usage charge is 0.5% if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million or 0.625% if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million. Under the credit facility, we can request up to $5 million in letters of credit be issued by the financial institutions. The annual charge for any outstanding letters of credit is 2.75% (if the debt/letters of credit outstanding is less than $15 million) or 3.00% (if the debt/letters of credit outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million).

        The credit facility contains customary events of default, conditions to borrowing and covenants, including restrictions on our ability to dispose of assets, make acquisitions, incur debt, incur liens and make distributions to stockholders. The credit facility also includes a financial covenant requiring the maintenance of minimum liquidity of at least $5 million. During the continuance of an event of a default, the lenders may accelerate amounts outstanding, terminate the credit facility and foreclose on all collateral. Any inability to meet our debt service obligation could have material consequences on our security holders.

        As of January 31, 2013, the Company had $828,000 in letters of credit outstanding and had $29.17 million of available borrowing capacity under the credit facility. On December 30, 2011, the Company entered into a cash collateral agreement in connection with the issuance of letters of credit which were used to satisfy deposit requirements under facility leases. As of January 31, 2013, the $828,000 cash collateral was considered to be restricted cash. The amount is included in other assets on the Company's balance sheet.

    Capital Expenditures

        Consistent with previous periods, future capital expenditures will primarily focus on acquiring additional hosting and general corporate infrastructure. Based on current estimates, we believe that our anticipated capital expenditures will be adequate to implement our current plans.

    Historical Trends

        The following table summarizes our cash flow data for fiscal 2011, 2012 and 2013.

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (In thousands)
 

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

  $ 3,540   $ 5,358   $ (250 )

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

    (8,211 )   (58,550 )   15,185  

Net cash provided by financing activities

    31,555     54,270     6,669  

    Operating Activities

        In fiscal 2013, net cash used in operating activities was $0.3 million, including our net loss of $38.1 million and non-cash charges of $33.2 million, primarily related to stock-based compensation charges. Net cash used in operating activities benefited from changes in operating assets and liabilities including an increase in accrued royalties of $19.3 million due to an increase in listening hours, an increase in deferred revenue of $10.0 million primarily due to an increase in customers purchasing subscriptions for Pandora One, an increase in accrued compensation of $9.6 million due to headcount increases and the timing of these payments and $5.0 million in higher accounts payable primarily due

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to costs related to expanding our Oakland office facilities and higher ad serving fees. These increases were offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $36.7 million primarily due to increased billings and higher prepaid expenses and other assets.

        In fiscal 2012, net cash provided by operating activities was $5.4 million, including our net loss of $16.1 million and non-cash charges of $18.9 million. In addition, cash provided by operating activities from changes in operating assets and liabilities included an increase in accrued royalties of $15.7 million due to an increase in listening hours and an increase in accrued compensation of $8.1 million related to higher employee bonus compensation due to the timing of payments. Cash provided by operating activities also included $3.3 million higher deferred revenue primarily related to an increase in customers purchasing subscriptions for Pandora One, largely offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $24.5 million primarily due to increased billings.

        In fiscal 2011, net cash provided by operating activities was $3.5 million, including our net loss of $1.8 million and non-cash charges of $4.1 million. In addition, cash outflows from changes in operating assets and liabilities included an increase in accounts receivable of $23.0 million related to higher advertising sales. Cash inflows from changes in operating assets and liabilities included an increase in deferred revenue of $9.8 million primarily related to an increase in customers purchasing subscriptions for Pandora One and an increase in accrued royalties of $9.0 million due to the timing of royalty payments and increase in the number of listeners.

    Investing Activities

        Cash provided by investing activities in fiscal 2013 was $15.2 million consisting of $87.9 million in maturities of short-term investments partially offset by $65.2 million for the purchase of short-term investments and $7.6 million for capital expenditures primarily for server equipment and leasehold improvements.

        Cash used in investing activities in fiscal 2012 was $58.6 million consisting of $66.9 million for the purchase of short-term investments and $11.6 million primarily for capital expenditures for leasehold improvements and server equipment, partially offset by $20.0 million in maturities of short-term investments.

        Cash used in investing activities in fiscal 2011 was $8.2 million consisting primarily of capital expenditures for server equipment.

    Financing Activities

        Cash provided by financing activities in fiscal 2013 was $6.7 million consisting of cash proceeds from issuance of common stock pursuant to incentive awards.

        Cash provided by financing activities in fiscal 2012 was $54.3 million consisting of cash proceeds of $90.6 million from issuance of common stock in our IPO, net of cash paid for issuance costs partially offset by the payment of $31.0 million in dividends upon conversion of the redeemable convertible preferred stock concurrent with the closing of our IPO, and repayment of all outstanding debt for $7.6 million.

        Cash provided by financing activities in fiscal 2011 was $31.6 million consisting primarily of net proceeds of $22.2 million from the issuance of 8.1 million shares of Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock and proceeds from the issuance of both vested and unvested common stock of $6.1 million.

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Contractual Obligations and Commitments

        The following summarizes our contractual obligations as of January 31, 2013:

 
  Payments Due by Period  
 
  Total   Less Than
1 Year
  1 - 3 Years   4 - 5 Years   More Than
5 Year
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Purchase obligation

  $ 750   $ 750   $   $   $  

Operating lease obligations

    20,833     4,160     8,876     7,479     318  
                       

Total

  $ 21,583   $ 4,910   $ 8,876   $ 7,479   $ 318  
                       

    Purchase Obligation

        Purchase obligation represents a non-cancelable contractual obligation at January 31, 2013 related to a branding agreement.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

        As of January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements.

Business Trends

        Our operating results fluctuate from quarter to quarter as a result of a variety of factors. We expect our operating results to continue to fluctuate in future quarters.

        Our results may reflect the effects of some seasonal trends in listener behavior due to increased internet usage and sales of media-streaming devices during certain vacation and holiday periods. For example, we expect to experience increased usage during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to the holiday season, and in the first quarter of each calendar year due to increased use of media-streaming devices received as gifts during the holiday season. We may also experience higher advertising sales during the fourth quarter of each calendar year due to greater advertiser demand during the holiday season and lower advertising sales during the first quarter of each calendar year due to seasonally adjusted advertising demand. While we believe these seasonal trends have affected and will continue to affect our operating results, our trajectory of rapid growth may have overshadowed these effects to date. We believe that our business may become more seasonal in the future and that such seasonal variations in listener behavior may result in fluctuations in our financial results.

        In addition, expenditures by advertisers tend to be cyclical and discretionary in nature, reflecting overall economic conditions, the economic prospects of specific advertisers or industries, budgeting constraints and buying patterns and a variety of other factors, many of which are outside our control. For example, an advertiser which accounted for more than 10% of our advertising revenue for the first two quarters of fiscal 2012 did not meet this threshold for the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2012. As a result of these and other factors, the results of any prior quarterly or annual periods should not be relied upon as indications of our future operating performance.

        Growth in listening on mobile and other connected devices continues to outpace growth in listening on traditional computer-based devices. While historically we have not limited the usage of our advertising-supported service on mobile devices, in March 2013 we instituted a 40 hour listening cap on these devices. Listeners who reach this limit may continue to use our ad supported service on these devices by paying $0.99 for the remainder of the month, may listen to our ad supported service on their desktop or laptop computers or may purchase annual or monthly Pandora One subscriptions for $36 per year or approximately $4 per month, respectively.

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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

        Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses and related disclosures. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our estimates are based on historical experience and various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our actual results could differ from these estimates.

        We believe that the assumptions and estimates associated with our revenue recognition, stock based compensation, stock option grants and common stock valuations, and accounting for income taxes have the greatest potential impact on our financial statements. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting policies and estimates.

    Revenue Recognition

        We recognize revenue when four basic criteria are met: (1) persuasive evidence exists of an arrangement with the customer reflecting the terms and conditions under which the products or services will be provided; (2) delivery has occurred or services have been provided; (3) the fee is fixed or determinable; and (4) collection is reasonably assured. We consider a signed agreement, a binding insertion order or other similar documentation to be persuasive evidence of an arrangement. Collectability is assessed based on a number of factors, including transaction history and the creditworthiness of a customer. If it is determined that collection is not reasonably assured, revenue is not recognized until collection becomes reasonably assured, which is generally upon receipt of cash. We record cash received in advance of revenue recognition as deferred revenue.

    Advertising Revenue

        We generate the majority of our revenue through the delivery of advertising impressions sold on a cost per thousand, or CPM, basis. We generally recognize revenue based on delivery information from our campaign trafficking systems. We record revenue from these performance-based actions when we receive third-party verification reports supporting the number of actions performed in the period. We generally have audit rights to the underlying data summarized in these reports.

    Subscription Services and Other Revenue

        Subscription revenue is generated through the sale of a premium version of the Pandora service which currently includes higher audio quality and advertisement-free access. Subscription revenue derived from direct sales to listeners is recognized on a straight-line basis over the duration of the subscription period. Subscription revenue derived from sales through some mobile operating systems may be subject to refund or cancellation terms which may affect the timing or amount of the subscription revenue recognition. When refund rights exist, we recognize revenue when services have been provided and the rights lapse or when we have developed sufficient transaction history to estimate a reserve. As of January 31, 2013, we had deferred revenue of approximately $5.1 million related to refund rights.

        Until September 2011, a small portion of subscription revenue was also generated from usage-based fees when a listener who did not have access to a premium version of the Pandora service reached a maximum number of listening hours on traditional computers in a given month. The listener was required to pay a nominal fee to continue the advertising-supported listening experience on traditional computers for the remainder of the month. Revenue from usage-based fees was recognized in the month the maximum number of listening hours was exceeded. In September 2011, we effectively eliminated the 40 hour per month listening cap on desktop and laptop computers by increasing the cap to 320 hours of listening per month, which almost none of our listeners exceed.

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    Revenue Recognition for Multiple-Element Arrangements

        We enter into arrangements with customers to sell advertising packages that include different media placements or ad services that are delivered at the same time, or within close proximity of one another. Because we had not yet established the fair value for each element and our agreements contain mid-campaign cancellation clauses, advertising sales revenue prior to February 1, 2011 was recognized as the lowest of (1) revenue calculated on a time-based straight-line basis over the term of the contract, (2) revenue calculated on a proportional performance basis, based on CPM for the entire campaign multiplied by the number of impressions delivered to date and (3) revenue based on the delivered media and price as specified on the applicable insertion order. Significant creative or engineering professional services provided adjunct to a campaign are not considered to have standalone value. As a result, we recognized revenue for all elements of multiple-element arrangements as a single unit of accounting over the delivery period.

        Beginning on February 1, 2011, we adopted new authoritative guidance on multiple element arrangements using the prospective method for all arrangements entered into or materially modified from the date of adoption. Under this new guidance we allocate arrangement consideration in multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements at the inception of an arrangement to all deliverables or those packages in which all components of the package are delivered at the same time, based on the relative selling price method in accordance with the selling price hierarchy, which includes: (1) vendor-specific objective evidence, or VSOE, if available; (2) third-party evidence, or TPE, if VSOE is not available; and (3) best estimate of selling price, or BESP, if neither VSOE nor TPE is available. BESP is generally used to allocate the selling price to deliverables in our multiple element arrangements. We determine BESP for deliverables by considering multiple factors including, but not limited to, prices we charge for similar offerings, sales volume, market conditions, competitive landscape and pricing practices. We recognize the relative fair value of the media placements or ad services as they are delivered assuming all other revenue recognition criteria are met. As a result of implementing this recent authoritative guidance, we recognized $3.0 million as revenue in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012 that would have been deferred under the previous guidance for multiple element arrangements.

    Stock-Based Compensation

        We measure stock-based compensation expenses for employees at the grant date fair value of the award, and recognize expenses on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. We account for stock options issued to non-employees in accordance with the guidance for equity-based payments to non-employees. We believe that the fair value of stock options is more reliably measured than the fair value of the services received. As such, the fair value of the unvested portion of the options granted to non-employees is re-measured each period. The resulting increase in value, if any, is recognized as expense during the period the related services are rendered.

        We generally estimate the fair value of stock-based payment awards using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model. The determination of the fair value of a stock-based award on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model is affected by our stock price on the date of grant as well as assumptions regarding a number of complex and subjective variables. These variables include our expected stock price volatility over the expected term of the award, actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors, the risk-free interest rate for the expected term of the award and expected dividends. The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as expense in our statements of operations.

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        Prior to our IPO, our board of directors considered numerous objective and subjective factors to determine the fair market value of our common stock at each meeting at which stock options were granted and approved.

        Stock-based compensation expenses are classified in the statement of operations based on the department to which the related employee reports. Our stock-based awards are comprised principally of stock options and restricted stock unit awards.

    Accounting for Income Taxes

        We account for our income taxes using the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or in our income tax returns. Deferred income taxes are recognized for differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities at the enacted statutory income tax rates in effect for the years in which the temporary differences are expected to reverse. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in income tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. We evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets and valuation allowances are provided when necessary to reduce net deferred tax assets to the amounts expected to be realized.

        We recognize a tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon settlement. We will recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in our income tax provision in the accompanying statement of operations.

        We calculate our current and deferred income tax provision based on estimates and assumptions that could differ from the actual results reflected in income tax returns filed in subsequent years. Adjustments based on filed income tax returns are recorded when identified. The amount of income taxes we pay is subject to examination by U.S. federal, state and international tax authorities. Our estimate of the potential outcome of any uncertain tax issue is subject to management's assessment of relevant risks, facts and circumstances existing at that time. To the extent that our assessment of such tax positions change, the change in estimate is recorded in the period in which the determination is made.

Item 7A.    QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

        We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business, including interest rate and inflation risks.

    Interest Rate Fluctuation Risk

        Our exposure to interest rates relates to the increase or decrease in the amount of interest we must pay on our outstanding debt instruments. In May 2011, we entered into a $30 million credit facility with a syndicate of financial institutions. Any outstanding borrowings under the credit facility bear a variable interest rate and therefore the interest we pay as well as the fair value of our outstanding borrowings will fluctuate as changes occur in certain benchmark interest rates. As of January 31, 2013, we had not drawn any amounts under the credit facility but had $828,000 of letters of credit outstanding.

        The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal while maximizing income without significantly increasing risk. Approximately half of our portfolio consists of cash and cash equivalents that have a relatively short maturity, and a fair value relatively insensitive to interest rate

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changes. Our fixed-income marketable securities have maturities of less than six months, but do carry some degree of interest rate risk and may have their fair market values adversely impacted by higher interest rates. We do not believe that a hypothetical 10% increase in interest rates as of January 31, 2013 would have had a material impact on our investment portfolio. We have currently determined, consistent with our investment objectives, that the potential increase in yield would not warrant investing our excess cash in longer-term investments. In future periods, we will continue to evaluate our investment policy in order to ensure that we continue to meet our overall objectives.

    Inflation Risk

        We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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ITEM 8.    FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

PANDORA MEDIA, INC.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders
Pandora Media, Inc.

        We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Pandora Media, Inc. as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders' equity (deficit), and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 31, 2013. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.

        We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

        In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of Pandora Media, Inc. at January 31, 2012 and 2013, and the consolidated results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 31, 2013, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

        As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, under the heading Revenue Recognition, the Company changed its method of accounting for revenue recognition as a result of the adoption of amendments to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification resulting from Accounting Standards Update No. 2009-13, Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements, effective February 1, 2011.

        We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), Pandora Media Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated March 18, 2013 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

    /s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Francisco, California
March 18, 2013

 

 

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Report Of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

The Board of Directors and Stockholders
Pandora Media, Inc.

        We have audited Pandora Media, Inc.'s internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2013, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the COSO criteria). Pandora Media, Inc.'s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.

        We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

        A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

        Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

        In our opinion, Pandora Media, Inc. maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 31, 2013, based on the COSO criteria.

        We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the consolidated balance sheets of Pandora Media, Inc. as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders' equity (deficit), and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 31, 2013 of Pandora Media, Inc. and our report dated March 18, 2013 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

    /s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Francisco, California
March 18, 2013

 

 

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

 
  As of
January 31,
2012
  As of
January 31,
2013
 

Assets

             

Current assets:

             

Cash and cash equivalents

  $ 44,126   $ 65,725  

Short-term investments

    46,455     23,247  

Accounts receivable, net of allowances of $590 and $761 at January 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively

    66,738     103,410  

Prepaid expenses and other current assets

    2,806     6,232  
           

Total current assets

    160,125     198,614  

Property and equipment, net

    15,576     17,758  

Other assets

    2,314     2,460  
           

Total assets

  $ 178,015   $ 218,832  
           

Liabilities and stockholders' equity

             

Current liabilities:

             

Accounts payable

  $ 2,053   $ 4,471  

Accrued liabilities

    3,838     7,590  

Accrued royalties

    33,822     53,083  

Deferred revenue

    19,232     29,266  

Accrued compensation

    11,962     21,560  
           

Total current liabilities

    70,907     115,970  

Other long-term liabilities

    2,568     3,873  
           

Total liabilities

    73,475     119,843  
           

Commitments and contingencies (note 5)

             

Stockholders' equity:

             

Preferred stock, $0.0001 par value; zero and 10,000,000 shares authorized as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively; no shares issued and outstanding as of January 31, 2012 and 2013

         

Common stock, $0.0001 par value: 1,000,000,000 shares authorized as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively;163,569,361 and 172,506,051 shares issued and outstanding as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively

    16     17  

Additional paid-in capital

    205,955     238,552  

Accumulated deficit

    (101,426 )   (139,574 )

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

    (5 )   (6 )
           

Total stockholders' equity

    104,540     98,989  
           

Total liabilities, redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders' equity

  $ 178,015   $ 218,832  
           

   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(In thousands, except per share amounts)

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Revenue:

                   

Advertising

  $ 119,333   $ 239,957   $ 375,218  

Subscription services and other

    18,431     34,383     51,927  
               

Total revenue

    137,764     274,340     427,145  

Costs and expenses:

                   

Cost of revenue—Content acquisition costs

    69,357     148,708     258,748  

Cost of revenue—Other

    11,559     22,759     32,019  

Product development

    6,736     13,425     18,118  

Marketing and sales

    36,250     65,010     107,715  

General and administrative

    14,183     35,428     48,247  
               

Total costs and expenses

    138,085     285,330     464,847  
               

Loss from operations

    (321 )   (10,990 )   (37,702 )

Other income (expense):

                   

Interest income

    31     59     95  

Interest expense

    (612 )   (616 )   (535 )

Other expense, net

    (728 )   (4,485 )   (1 )
               

Loss before provision for income taxes

    (1,630 )   (16,032 )   (38,143 )

Provision for income taxes

    (134 )   (75 )   (5 )
               

Net loss

    (1,764 )   (16,107 )   (38,148 )

Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (300 )   (110 )    

Increase in cumulative dividends payable upon conversion or liquidation of redeemable convertible preferred stock

    (8,978 )   (3,648 )    
               

Net loss attributable to common stockholders

  $ (11,042 ) $ (19,865 ) $ (38,148 )
               

Basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders

  $ (1.03 ) $ (0.19 ) $ (0.23 )
               

Weighted-average number of shares used in computing per share amounts

    10,761     105,955     168,294  
               

   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss

(In thousands)

 
  Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Net loss

  $ (1,764 ) $ (16,107 ) $ (38,148 )

Other comprehensive income (loss):

                   

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment

            (3 )

Change in unrealized loss on marketable securities net of taxes

        (5 )   2  
               

Other comprehensive loss

        (5 )   (1 )
               

Comprehensive loss

  $ (1,764 ) $ (16,112 ) $ (38,149 )
               

   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

(In thousands, except share amounts)

 
  Redeemable
Convertible Preferred
Stock
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
 
  Common Stock    
   
  Accumulated
Other
Comprehensive
Income (loss)
   
  Total
Stockholders'
Equity
(Deficit)
 
 
   
  Additional
Paid-in
Capital
  Accumulated
Deficit
 
 
  Shares   Amount   Shares   Amount  

Balances as of January 31, 2010

    125,280,526     104,806     7,102,336     1             (87,772 )   (87,771 )

Issuance of Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock for cash

    8,129,338     22,206                          

Issuance of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock upon exercise of warrant

    124,470     142                          

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

            6,148,128         577             577  

Issuance of common stock to directors for cash

            1,210,191         3,800             3,800  

Issuance of common stock in exchange for non-employee services

            50,000         157             157  

Stock-based compensation

                    1,455             1,455  

Reversals of dividends on redeemable convertible preferred stock, net of accruals

        (792 )           (3,725 )       4,517     792  

Excess tax benefit from stock-based compensation plans

                    44             44  

Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock issuance costs

        300                     (300 )   (300 )

Net loss

                                        (1,764 )   (1,764 )
                                   

Balances as of January 31, 2011

    133,534,334   $ 126,662     14,510,655   $ 1   $ 2,308   $   $ (85,319 ) $ (83,010 )

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

                5,165,112     1     2,515                 2,516  

Stock-based compensation

                            9,187                 9,187  

Dividends on redeemable convertible preferred stock

          25,200                 (25,218 )               (25,218 )

Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock issuance costs

          110                 (110 )               (110 )

Payment of preferred dividends in connection with initial public offering

          (31,005 )                                    

Conversion of preferred stock to common stock in connection with initial public offering

    (133,534,334 )   (120,967 )   137,294,552     13     126,477                 126,490  

Issuance of common stock in connection with initial public offering

                6,350,682     1     90,631                 90,632  

Issuance of common stock in connection with preferred stock warrant exercise

                248,360           165                 165  

Net loss

                                        (16,107 )   (16,107 )

Other comprehensive loss

                                  (5 )         (5 )
                                   

Balances as of January 31, 2012

        $       163,569,361   $ 16   $ 205,955   $ (5 ) $ (101,426 ) $ 104,540  

Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options

                8,408,842     1     7,305                 7,306  

Stock-based compensation

                            25,500                 25,500  

Vesting of restricted stock units

                400,112                                

Share cancellations to satisfy tax withholding on vesting of restricted stock units

                (18,340 )         (208 )               (208 )

Issuance of common stock in connection with preferred stock warrant exercise

                146,076                                

Components of comprehensive loss:

                                                 

Net loss

                                        (38,148 )   (38,148 )

Other comprehensive loss

                                  (1 )         (1 )
                                   

Balances as of January 31, 2013

        $       172,506,051   $ 17   $ 238,552   $ (6 ) $ (139,574 ) $ 98,989  
                                   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the financial statements.

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Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(In thousands)

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  

Operating Activities

                   

Net loss

  $ (1,764 ) $ (16,107 ) $ (38,148 )

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities:

                   

Depreciation and amortization

    1,578     4,455     7,076  

(Gain) loss on disposition of assets

    (15 )   296     23  

Stock-based compensation

    1,612     9,187     25,500  

Remeasurement of preferred stock warrants

    869     4,499      

Amortization of premium on investments

        246     360  

Amortization of debt issuance cost and debt discount

    4     190     264  

Changes in assets and liabilities:

                   

Accounts receivable

    (22,979 )   (24,526 )   (36,672 )

Prepaid expenses and other assets

    (2,421 )   156     (3,752 )

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities

    5,482     (865 )   4,963  

Accrued royalties

    9,036     15,742     19,261  

Accrued compensation

    2,375     8,147     9,598  

Deferred revenue

    9,763     3,322     10,034  

Reimbursement of cost of leasehold improvements

        616     1,243  
               

Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities

    3,540     5,358     (250 )
               

Investing Activities

                   

Purchases of property and equipment

    (8,211 )   (11,644 )   (7,580 )

Purchases of short-term investments

        (66,890 )   (65,168 )

Maturities of short-term investments

        19,984     87,933  
               

Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities

    (8,211 )   (58,550 )   15,185  
               

Financing Activities

                   

Borrowings under debt arrangements

    3,644          

Repayments of debt

    (392 )   (7,596 )    

Proceeds from issuance of common stock

    548     2,074     6,877  

Tax withholdings related to net share settlements of restricted stock units

            (208 )

Proceeds from issuance of common stock to directors for cash

    3,800          

Proceeds from early exercise of stock options

    1,705          

Proceeds from exercise of preferred stock warrants

        165      

Proceeds from issuance of redeemable convertible preferred stock, net of issuance costs

    22,206          

Proceeds from initial public offering net of offering costs

        90,632      

Payment of dividends to preferred stockholders at initial public offering

        (31,005 )    

Proceeds from buyers in investor offer

    7,908          

Payments to sellers in investor offer

    (7,908 )        

Excess tax benefit from stock-based compensation plans

    44          
               

Net cash provided by financing activities

    31,555     54,270     6,669  
               

Effects of foreign currency translation activities on cash and cash equivalents

            (5 )
               

Net increase in cash and cash equivalents

    26,884     1,078     21,599  

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year

    16,164     43,048     44,126  
               

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

  $ 43,048   $ 44,126   $ 65,725  
               

Supplemental disclosures of noncash financing activities

                   

Conversion of preferred stock warrants into common stock warrants

  $   $ (2,151 ) $  

Conversion of preferred stock into common stock

  $   $ (124,341 ) $  

Issuance of Series B redeemable convertible preferred stock upon exercise of warrant

  $ 142   $   $  

Accruals of preferred stock dividends, net of reversals

  $ (792 ) $ 25,218   $  

Accretion of preferred stock issuance cost

  $ 300   $ 110   $  

Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information

                   

Cash paid during the period for income taxes

  $   $ 125   $  

Cash paid during the period for interest

  $ 371   $ 887   $ 289  

   

The accompanying notes are an integral part of the consolidated financial statements.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

1. Description of the Business and Basis of Presentation

        Pandora Media, Inc. (the "Company" or "Pandora") provides an internet radio service in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, offering a personalized experience for each of its listeners. The Company has developed a form of radio that uses intrinsic qualities of music to initially create stations that then adapt playlists in real-time based on the individual feedback of each listener.

        The Company was incorporated as a California corporation in January 2000 and reincorporated as a Delaware corporation in December 2010.

    Initial Public Offering

        In June 2011, the Company completed its initial public offering ("IPO") whereby 14,684,000 shares of common stock were sold to the public at a price of $16.00 per share. The Company sold 6,000,682 common shares and selling stockholders sold 8,683,318 common shares. In July 2011, in connection with the exercise of the underwriters' overallotment option, 350,000 additional shares of common stock were sold to the public at the initial offering price of $16.00 per share. The Company received aggregate proceeds of $94.5 million from the initial public offering and the underwriters' overallotment option, net of underwriters' discounts and commissions but before deducting offering expenses of $3.9 million. Upon the closing of the IPO, all shares of the Company's outstanding redeemable convertible preferred stock automatically converted into 137,542,912 shares of common stock and outstanding warrants to purchase redeemable convertible preferred stock automatically converted into warrants to purchase 154,938 shares of common stock.

    Basis of Presentation

        The consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles ("U.S. GAAP"). The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In the opinion of the Company's management, the consolidated financial statements include all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for the fair presentation of the Company's financial position for the periods presented.

        Certain changes in presentation have been made to conform prior period presentation to current period reporting. The Company's content acquisition costs are now included as a separate line item component of Cost of Revenue in the Company's Statement of Operations and changes in restricted cash are now included in the line item Prepaid Expenses and Other Assets in the Company's Statements of Cash Flows.

    Use of Estimates

        The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make certain estimates, judgments, and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the related disclosures at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the periods presented. Estimates are used for determining selling prices for elements sold in multiple-element arrangements, the allowance for doubtful accounts, the fair value of common stock through the date of the IPO, stock-based compensation, fair values of investments and income taxes, and accrued royalties. To the extent there are material differences between these estimates, judgments, or assumptions and actual results, the Company's financial

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

1. Description of the Business and Basis of Presentation (Continued)

statements could be affected. In many cases, the accounting treatment of a particular transaction is specifically dictated by U.S. GAAP and does not require management's judgment in its application. There are also areas in which management's judgment in selecting among available alternatives would not produce a materially different result.

    Segments

        The Company operates in one segment. The Company's chief operating decision maker (the "CODM"), its Chief Executive Officer, manages the Company's operations on a consolidated basis for purposes of allocating resources. When evaluating the Company's financial performance, the CODM reviews separate revenue information for the Company's advertising, subscription services and other offerings, while all other financial information is reviewed on a consolidated basis. All of the Company's principal operations are located in the United States.

    Fiscal year

        All references herein to a fiscal year refer to the 12 months ended January 31 of such year, and references to the first, second, third and fourth fiscal quarters refer to the three months ended April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31, respectively.

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

    Revenue Recognition

        The Company's revenue is principally derived from advertising services and subscription fees.

        The Company recognizes revenue when: (1) persuasive evidence exists of an arrangement with the customer reflecting the terms and conditions under which products or services will be provided; (2) delivery has occurred or services have been provided; (3) the fee is fixed or determinable; and (4) collection is reasonably assured. For all revenue transactions, the Company considers a signed agreement, a binding insertion order or other similar documentation to be persuasive evidence of an arrangement.

        Advertising Revenue.    The Company generates advertising revenue primarily from display, audio and video advertising. The Company generates the majority of its advertising revenue through the delivery of advertising impressions sold on a cost per thousand, or CPM, basis. In determining whether an arrangement exists, the Company ensures that a binding arrangement, such as an insertion order or a fully executed customer-specific agreement, is in place. The Company generally recognizes revenue based on delivery information from its campaign trafficking systems.

        The Company also generates advertising revenue pursuant to arrangements with advertising agencies and brokers. Under these arrangements, the Company provides the agencies and brokers the ability to sell advertising inventory on the Company's service directly to advertisers. The Company reports this revenue net of amounts due to agencies and brokers because the Company is not the primary obligor under these arrangements, the Company does not set the pricing, and does not establish or maintain the relationship with the advertisers.

        Subscription and Other Revenue.    The Company generates subscription services revenue through the sale of access to a premium version of Pandora internet radio, or Pandora One. Subscription

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

revenue derived from direct sales to listeners is recognized on a straight-line basis over the duration of the subscription period. Subscription revenue derived from sales through some mobile operating systems may be subject to refund or cancellation terms which may affect the timing or amount of the subscription revenue recognition. When refund rights exist, the Company recognizes revenue when the service has been provided and the rights lapse or when sufficient transaction history has been developed to estimate a reserve. As of January 31, 2013, the Company had deferred revenue of approximately $5.1 million related to refund rights.

        Until September 2011, a small portion of subscription revenue was also generated from usage-based fees when a listener who did not have access to a premium version of the Pandora service reached a maximum number of listening hours on traditional computers in a given month. The listener was required to pay a nominal fee to continue the advertising-supported listening experience on traditional computers for the remainder of the month. Revenue from usage based fees was recognized in the month the maximum number of listening hours was exceeded. In September 2011, the Company effectively eliminated the 40 hour per month listening cap on desktop and laptop computers by increasing the cap to 320 hours of listening per month, which almost none of our listeners exceed.

        Deferred Revenue.    Deferred revenue consists of both prepaid but unrecognized subscription revenue and advertising fees received or billed in advance of the delivery or completion of the services or in instances when revenue recognition criteria have not been met. Deferred revenue is recognized when the services are provided and all revenue recognition criteria have been met. When refund rights exist, the Company recognizes revenue when the rights lapse or when sufficient transaction history has been developed to estimate a reserve.

        Multiple-Element Arrangements .    The Company enters into arrangements with customers to sell advertising packages that include different media placements or ad services that are delivered at the same time, or within close proximity of one another.

        For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011, because the Company had not yet established the fair value for each element and the Company's agreements contained mid-campaign cancellation clauses, advertising sales revenue was recognized as the lesser of (1) revenue calculated on a time-based straight-line basis over the term of the contract, (2) revenue calculated on a proportional performance basis, based on an average CPM rate for the entire campaign multiplied by the number of impressions delivered to date, and (3) revenue earned on the delivered media and price as specified on the applicable insertion order.

        Beginning on February 1, 2011, the Company adopted new authoritative guidance on multiple element arrangements, using the prospective method for all arrangements entered into or materially modified from the date of adoption. Under this new guidance, the Company allocates arrangement consideration in multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements at the inception of an arrangement to all deliverables or those packages in which all components of the package are delivered at the same time, based on the relative selling price method in accordance with the selling price hierarchy, which includes: (1) vendor-specific objective evidence ("VSOE") if available; (2) third-party evidence ("TPE") if VSOE is not available; and (3) best estimate of selling price ("BESP") if neither VSOE nor TPE is available.

        VSOE.    The Company determines VSOE based on its historical pricing and discounting practices for the specific product or service when sold separately. In determining VSOE, the Company requires

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

that a substantial majority of the selling prices for these services fall within a reasonably narrow pricing range. The Company has not historically priced its advertising products within a narrow range. As a result, the Company has not been able to establish VSOE for any of its advertising products.

        TPE.    When VSOE cannot be established for deliverables in multiple element arrangements, the Company applies judgment with respect to whether it can establish a selling price based on TPE. TPE is determined based on competitor prices for similar deliverables when sold separately. Generally, the Company's go-to-market strategy differs from that of its peers and its offerings contain a significant level of differentiation such that the comparable pricing of services cannot be obtained. Furthermore, the Company is unable to reliably determine what similar competitor services' selling prices are on a stand-alone basis. As a result, the Company has not been able to establish selling price based on TPE.

        BESP.    When it is unable to establish selling price using VSOE or TPE, the Company uses BESP in its allocation of arrangement consideration. The objective of BESP is to determine the price at which the Company would transact a sale if the service were sold on a stand-alone basis. BESP is generally used to allocate the selling price to deliverables in the Company's multiple element arrangements. The Company determines BESP for deliverables by considering multiple factors including, but not limited to, prices it charges for similar offerings, market conditions, competitive landscape and pricing practices. The Company limits the amount of allocable arrangement consideration to amounts that are fixed or determinable and that are not contingent on future performance or future deliverables. The Company regularly reviews BESP. Changes in assumptions or judgments or changes to the elements in the arrangement may cause an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue that the Company reports in a particular period.

        The Company recognizes the relative fair value of the media placements or ad services as they are delivered assuming all other revenue recognition criteria are met.

    Concentration of Credit Risk

        Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and trade accounts receivable. The Company maintains cash and cash equivalents with domestic financial institutions of high credit quality. The Company performs periodic evaluations of the relative credit standing of all of such institutions.

        The Company performs ongoing credit evaluations of customers to assess the probability of accounts receivable collection based on a number of factors, including past transaction experience with the customer, evaluation of their credit history, and review of the invoicing terms of the contract. The Company generally does not require collateral. The Company maintains reserves for potential credit losses on customer accounts when deemed necessary. Actual credit losses during the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 were not significant.

        For the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 the Company had no customers that accounted for 10% or more of total revenue. As of January 31, 2012 and 2013 there were no customers that accounted for 10% or more of the Company's total accounts receivable.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

    Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

        The Company classifies its highly liquid investments with maturities of three months or less at the date of purchase as cash equivalents. The Company's short-term investments consist of commercial paper, corporate debt securities and U.S. agency notes. These investments are classified as available-for-sale securities and are carried at fair value with the unrealized gains and losses reported as a component of stockholders' equity. Management determines the appropriate classification of its investments at the time of purchase and reevaluates the available-for-sale designations as of each balance sheet date. The Company classifies its investments as either short-term or long-term based on each instrument's underlying contractual maturity date. Investments with maturities of less than 12 months are classified as short-term and those with maturities greater than 12 months are classified as long-term. The cost of investments sold is based upon the specific identification method.

    Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

        Accounts receivable are recorded net of an allowance for doubtful accounts. The Company's allowance for doubtful accounts is based upon historical loss patterns, the number of days that billings are past due and an evaluation of the potential risk of loss associated with delinquent accounts. The Company also considers any changes to the financial condition of its customers and any other external market factors that could impact the collectability of its receivables in the determination of its allowance for doubtful accounts.

    Property and Equipment

        Property and equipment is recorded at cost, less accumulated depreciation and amortization. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method based on the estimated useful lives of the assets as follows:

Servers, computers and other related equipment

  3 years

Office furniture and equipment

  3 to 5 years

Leasehold improvements

  Shorter of the estimated useful life of 5 years or the lease term

        Property and equipment is reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Recoverability of these assets is measured by a comparison of the carrying amounts to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate. If property and equipment are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized equals the amount by which the carrying value of the asset exceeds its fair market value.

    Internal Use Software and Website Development Costs

        Costs incurred to develop software for internal use are required to be capitalized and amortized over the estimated useful life of the asset if certain criteria are met. Costs related to design or maintenance of internal-use software are expensed as incurred. The Company evaluates the costs incurred during the application development stage of website development to determine whether the costs meet the criteria for capitalization. Costs related to preliminary project activities and post implementation activities are expensed as incurred. As of January 31, 2012 and 2013, the Company had

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

incurred and capitalized approximately $100,000 and $1.1 million respectively, related to internal use software and website development costs which are being amortized over their three-year estimated useful lives. Internal use software and website development costs are included in property and equipment.

    Preferred Stock Warrant

        Prior to the Company's IPO, warrants to purchase the Company's redeemable convertible preferred stock were classified as liabilities on the Company's balance sheet. The Company measured these warrants at fair value at each balance sheet date and any changes in fair value were recognized as a component of other income (expense) in the Company's statements of operations. The Company's preferred stock warrants were categorized as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy because the fair value was estimated using an option valuation model, which included the estimated fair value of the underlying preferred stock at the valuation measurement date, the remaining contractual term of the warrant, risk-free interest rates, and expected dividends on, and expected volatility of the price of the underlying preferred stock. These assumptions are inherently subjective and involve significant management judgment. The Company performed the final remeasurement of the warrants at the fair value at the closing date of the Company's IPO on June 20, 2011 because the preferred stock warrants were either exercised or converted to common stock warrants on that date.

        The Company recorded losses of approximately $0.9 million and $4.5 million arising from the revaluation of the convertible preferred stock warrant liability for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011 and 2012.

    Stock-Based Compensation

        Stock-based payments made to employees, including grants of employee stock options and restricted stock units, are recognized in the statements of operations based on their fair values. The Company recognizes stock-based compensation for awards granted that are expected to vest, on a straight-line basis using the single-option attribution method over the service period of the award, which is generally four years. Because stock-based compensation expenses recognized in the statements of operations are based on awards ultimately expected to vest, they have been reduced for estimated forfeitures. Forfeitures are required to be estimated at the time of grant and revised, if necessary, in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. The forfeiture rates used for valuing stock-based compensation payments were estimated based on historical experience. The Company generally estimates the fair value of employee stock options using the Black-Scholes valuation model. The determination of the fair value of a stock-based award is affected by the deemed fair value of the underlying stock price on the grant date, as well as other assumptions including the risk-free interest rate, the estimated volatility of the Company's stock price over the term of the award, the estimated period of time that the Company expects employees to hold their stock options and the expected dividend rate.

        The Company has elected to use the "with and without" approach as described in Accounting Standards Codification 740 Tax Provisions in determining the order in which tax attributes are utilized. As a result, the Company will only recognize a tax benefit from stock-based awards in additional paid-in capital if an incremental tax benefit is realized after all other tax attributes currently available to the Company have been utilized. In addition, the Company has elected to account for the indirect

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

effects of stock-based awards on other tax attributes, such as the research tax credit, through the statement of operations.

    Cost of Revenue—Content Acquisition Costs

        Cost of revenue—content acquisition costs principally consist of royalties paid for the right to stream music to the Company's listeners. Royalties are most often calculated using negotiated rates documented in master royalty agreements and are based on usage measures or revenue earned or a combination thereof. The performance rights organizations to which royalties are paid have the right to audit the Company's playlist and payment records. The Company may also recognize content acquisition costs based on estimated rates during periods of contract negotiation with performance rights organizations.

    Cost of Revenue—Other

        Cost of revenue—other consists of the infrastructure costs related to content streaming, maintaining the Company's service and creating and serving advertisements through third party ad serving technology providers, including the employee costs associated with supporting these functions. The Company makes payments to third-party ad servers for the period the advertising impressions or click-through actions are delivered or occur, and accordingly, the Company records this as a cost of revenue in the related period.

    Product Development

        The Company incurs product development expenses consisting of employee compensation, information technology, consulting, facilities-related expenses and costs associated with supporting consumer connected-device manufacturers in implementing its service in their products. The Company incurs product development expenses primarily for improvements to its website, the Pandora app, development of new advertising products and development and enhancement of the Music Genome Project and infrastructure costs such as facility and other overhead costs. The Company generally expenses product development costs as incurred, but has capitalized certain costs related to internal use software and website development costs. (See "Internal Use Software and Website Development Costs.")

    Marketing and Sales

        Marketing and sales expenses consist of employee and employee-related costs including salaries, commissions and benefits related to employees in sales, marketing and advertising departments. In addition, marketing and sales expenses include external sales and marketing expenses such as third-party marketing, branding, advertising and public relations expenses, transactional subscription processing fees on mobile platforms, and infrastructure costs such as facility and other supporting overhead costs. Advertising expenses are expensed as incurred. Total advertising expenses incurred were $3.0 million, $6.9 million and $ 7.6 million for the years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

    General and Administrative

        General and administrative expenses include employee and employee-related costs consisting of salaries and benefits for finance, accounting, legal, internal information technology and other

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Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

administrative personnel. In addition, general and administrative expenses include professional services costs for outside legal and accounting services, and infrastructure costs for facility, supporting overhead costs and merchant and other transaction costs, such as credit card fees.

    Income Taxes

        The Company accounts for income taxes using the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the financial statements or in the Company's tax returns. Deferred income taxes are recognized for differences between financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities at the enacted statutory tax rates in effect for the years in which the temporary differences are expected to reverse. The effect on deferred taxes of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. The Company evaluates the realizability of deferred tax assets and valuation allowances are provided when necessary to reduce net deferred tax assets to the amounts expected to be realized.

        The Company recognizes a tax benefit from an uncertain tax position only if it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained on examination by the taxing authorities, based on the technical merits of the position. The tax benefits recognized in the financial statements from such positions are then measured based on the largest benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon settlement. The Company will recognize interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in the income tax provision in the accompanying statement of operations.

        The Company calculates the current and deferred income tax provision based on estimates and assumptions that could differ from the actual results reflected in income tax returns filed in subsequent years. Adjustments based on filed income tax returns are recorded when identified. The amount of income taxes paid is subject to examination by U.S. federal, state and international tax authorities. The estimate of the potential outcome of any uncertain tax issue is subject to management's assessment of relevant risks, facts and circumstances existing at that time. To the extent that the assessment of such tax positions change, the change in estimate is recorded in the period in which the determination is made.

    Net Loss Per Share

        Basic net loss per share is computed by dividing the net loss by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period.

        Diluted net loss per share is computed by giving effect to all potential shares of common stock, including stock options, convertible preferred stock warrants, restricted stock units and redeemable convertible preferred stock, to the extent dilutive. Basic and diluted net loss per share was the same for each period presented as the inclusion of all potential common shares outstanding would have been anti-dilutive.

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued)

    Recently Issued Accounting Standards

        Effective February 1, 2012, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2011-04, "Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS")." The ASU updates the accounting guidance to clarify and align Fair Value Measurement within U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards. In addition, the ASU updates certain requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosure around fair value measurement. It does not require additional fair value measurements and the ASU was not intended to establish valuation standards or affect valuation practices outside of financial reporting. The adoption of ASU 2011-04 did not have a significant impact on the Company's consolidated balance sheets or statements of operations.

        Effective February 1, 2012, the Company adopted ASU No. 2011-05, "Presentation of Comprehensive Income." The adoption of ASU 2011-05 concerns presentation and disclosure only and did not have an impact on the Company's consolidated balance sheets or results of operations. ASU 2011-05 requires retrospective application and separate consolidated statements of comprehensive income (loss) are included in these financial statements.

        Effective February 1, 2012, the Company adopted ASU No. 2011-12, "Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassification of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05." The adoption of ASU 2011-12 concerns presentation and disclosure only and did not have an impact on the Company's consolidated financial position or results of operations.

3. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-term Investments

        Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments consisted of the following:

 
  As of
January 31,
2012
  As of
January 31,
2013
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Cash and cash equivalents:

             

Cash

  $ 6,604   $ 22,703  

Money market funds

    31,614     32,522  

Commercial paper

    2,893     10,500  

Corporate debt securities

    3,015      
           

Total cash and cash equivalents

  $ 44,126   $ 65,725  
           

Short-term investments:

             

Commercial paper

  $ 27,587   $ 13,592  

Corporate debt securities

    17,968     9,655  

U.S. agency notes

    900      
           

Total short-term investments

  $ 46,455   $ 23,247  
           

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments

  $ 90,581   $ 88,972  
           

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Pandora Media, Inc.

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)

3. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions (Continued)

        The Company's short-term investments have maturities of less than 12 months and are classified as available for sale. As of January 31, 2012 and 2013 the cost basis of the Company's cash and cash equivalents approximated their fair values and as a result, no unrealized gains or losses were recorded as of January 31, 2012 and 2013.

        The following table summarizes the Company's available-for-sale securities' adjusted cost, gross unrealized gains, gross unrealized losses and fair value by significant investment category as of January 31, 2012 and 2013.

 
  As of January 31, 2012  
 
  Adjusted
Cost
  Unrealized
Gains
  Unrealized
Losses
  Fair
Value
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Money market funds

  $ 31,614   $   $   $ 31,614  

Commercial paper

    30,481         (1 )   30,480  

Corporate debt securities

    20,987     1     (5 )   20,983  

U.S. agency notes

    900             900  
                   

Total cash equivalents and marketable securities

  $ 83,982   $ 1   $ (6 ) $ 83,977  
                   

 

 
  As of January 31, 2013  
 
  Adjusted
Cost
  Unrealized
Gains
  Unrealized
Losses
  Fair
Value
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

Money market funds

  $ 32,522   $   $   $ 32,522  

Commercial paper

    24,093         (1 )   24,092  

Corporate debt securities

    9,657         (2 )   9,655  
                   

Total cash equivalents and marketable securities

  $ 66,272   $   $ (3 ) $ 66,269  
                   

        The Company's investment policy requires investments to be investment grade, primarily rated "A1" by Standard & Poor's or "P1" by Moody's or better for short-term investments, with the objective of minimizing the potential risk of principal loss. In addition, the investment policy limits the amount of credit exposure to any one issuer.

        The unrealized losses on the Company's available-for-sale securities were primarily a result of unfavorable changes in interest rates subsequent to the initial purchase of these securities. As of January 31, 2013, the Company owned 22 securities that were in an unrealized loss position. The Company does not intend nor expect to need to sell these securities before recovering the associated unrealized losses. It expects to recover the full carrying value of these securities. As a result, no portion of the unrealized losses at January 31, 2013 is deemed to be other-than-temporary and the unrealized losses are not deemed to be credit losses. No available-for-sale securities have been in an unrealized loss position for 12 months or more. When evaluating the investments for other-than-temporary impairment, the Company reviews factors such as the length of time and extent to which fair value has been below cost basis, the financial condition of the issuer and any changes thereto, and the Company's intent to sell, or whether it is more likely than not it will be required to sell, the investment before

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3. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions (Continued)

recovery of the investment's amortized cost basis. During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013, the Company did not recognize any impairment charges.

    Accounts Receivable

        Accounts receivable, net consisted of the following:

 
  As of January 31,  
 
  2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Accounts receivable

  $ 67,328   $ 104,171  

Allowance for doubtful accounts

    (590 )   (761 )
           

Accounts receivable, net

  $ 66,738   $ 103,410  
           

 

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
  Balance at
Beginning of
Fiscal Year
  Additions   Write-offs,
net of
recoveries
  Balance at
End of
Fiscal Year
 
 
  (in thousands)
 

For fiscal year ended January 31, 2011

  $ 36   $ 485   $ (18 ) $ 503  

For fiscal year ended January 31, 2012

    503     492     (405 )   590  

For fiscal year ended January 31, 2013

    590     659     (488 )   761  

    Property and Equipment

        Property and equipment consisted of the following:

 
  As of January 31,  
 
  2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Software developed for internal use

  $   $ 1,095  

Servers, computers and other related equipment

    15,313     19,461  

Office furniture and equipment

    1,411     1,722  

Construction in progress

    234     2,264  

Leasehold improvements

    5,122     6,142  
           

    22,080     30,684  

Less accumulated depreciation and amortization

    (6,504 )   (12,926 )
           

Property and equipment, net

  $ 15,576   $ 17,758  
           

        Depreciation and amortization expenses totaled $1.6 million, $4.5 million, and $7.1 million for the years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. The Company wrote off net assets due to asset retirement totaling $0.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2012. There were no material write-offs during the fiscal years ended January 31, 2011 and 2013.

        Software developed for internal use has an expected useful life of three years from the date placed in service. As of January 31, 2013 the net carrying amount was $1.0 million including accumulated amortization of $144 thousand. Amortization expense for the year ended January 31, 2013 was

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3. Composition of Certain Financial Statement Captions (Continued)

$144 thousand. The Company held no material software developed for internal use assets during the years ended January 31, 2011 or 2012.

4. Fair Value

        The Company records cash equivalents, short-term investments and its preferred stock warrant liability at fair value.

        Fair value is an exit price, representing the amount that would be received from the sale of an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants. As such, fair value is a market-based measurement that should be determined based on assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. Fair value measurements are required to be disclosed by level within the following fair value hierarchy:

    Level 1—Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date.

    Level 2—Inputs (other than quoted prices included in Level 1) are either directly or indirectly observable for the asset or liability through correlation with market data at the measurement date and for the duration of the instrument's anticipated life.

    Level 3—Inputs lack observable market data to corroborate management's estimate of what market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability at the measurement date. Consideration is given to the risk inherent in the valuation technique and the risk inherent in the inputs to the model.

        When determining fair value, whenever possible the Company uses observable market data, and relies on unobservable inputs only when observable market data is not available.

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4. Fair Value (Continued)

        The fair value of these financial assets and liabilities was determined using the following inputs at January 31, 2012 and 2013:

 
  Fair Value Measurement Using  
 
  Quoted Prices in
Active Markets
for Identical
Instruments
(Level 1)
  Significant
Other
Observable
Inputs
(Level 2)
  Total  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Fair values as of January 31, 2012

                   

Assets:

                   

Money market funds

  $ 31,614   $   $ 31,614  

Commercial paper

        30,480     30,480  

Corporate debt securities

        20,983     20,983  

U.S. agency notes

        900     900  
               

Total assets measured at fair value

  $ 31,614   $ 52,363   $ 83,977  
               

Fair values as of January 31, 2013

                   

Assets:

                   

Money market funds

  $ 32,522   $   $ 32,522  

Commercial paper

        24,092     24,092  

Corporate debt securities

        9,655     9,655  

U.S. agency notes

             
               

Total assets measured at fair value

  $ 32,522   $ 33,747   $ 66,269  
               

        The Company's money market funds are classified as Level 1 within the fair value hierarchy because they are valued primarily using quoted market prices. The Company's other cash equivalents and short-term investments are classified as Level 2 within the fair value hierarchy because they are valued using professional pricing sources for identical or comparable instruments, rather than direct observations of quoted prices in active markets. Until their exercise or conversion on June 20, 2011, the Company's preferred stock warrants were classified as Level 3 within the fair value hierarchy because they were valued using unobservable inputs and management's judgment due to the absence of quoted market prices, inherent lack of liquidity and the long-term nature of such financial instruments.

        The following table provides a roll-forward of the fair value of the preferred stock warrants categorized as Level 3 for the year ended January 31, 2012. During the year ended January 31, 2013 the Company held no level three assets. (in thousands):

Balance at January 31, 2011

    1,027  

Remeasurement of preferred stock warrants

    4,499  

Exercise of preferred stock warrants

    (3,374 )

Conversion of preferred stock warrants to common stock warrants

    (2,152 )
       

Balance at January 31, 2012

  $  
       

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5. Commitments and Contingencies

    Leases

        The Company conducts its operations using leased office facilities in various locations.

        The following is a schedule of future minimum lease payments under operating leases as of January 31, 2013 (in thousands):

Fiscal Year Ending January 31,
   
 

2014

  $ 4,160  

2015

    4,498  

2016

    4,378  

2017

    4,215  

2018

    3,264  

Thereafter

    318  
       

Total minimum lease payments

  $ 20,833  
       

        The Company leases office space under arrangements expiring through 2018. Rent expenses for the years ended January 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 were $1.3 million, $2.5 million and $3.2 million respectively.

        For operating leases that include escalation clauses over the term of the lease, tenant improvement reimbursements and rent abatement periods, the Company recognizes rent expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term including expected renewal periods. The difference between rent expense and rent payments is recorded as deferred rent in current and long-term liabilities. Deferred rent totaled $1.3 million, and $3.6 million as of January 31, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

    Purchase Obligation

        As of January 31, 2013, the Company had a $0.8 million non-cancelable purchase obligation related to a branding agreement.

    Letters of Credit and Restricted Cash

        As of January 31, 2012 and 2013, the Company had $520,000 and $828,000, respectively in letters of credit outstanding that were used to satisfy deposit requirements under facility leases. On December 30, 2011, the Company entered into a cash collateral agreement in connection with the issuance of letters of credit. As of January 31, 2012 and 2013, the $520,000 and $828,000 cash collateral amounts were considered to be restricted cash. The amounts are included in other assets on the Company's balance sheet.

    Indemnification Agreements, Guarantees and Contingencies

        In the ordinary course of business, the Company is party to certain contractual agreements under which it may provide indemnifications of varying scope, terms and duration to customers, vendors, lessors, business partners, and other parties with respect to certain matters, including, but not limited to, losses arising out of breach of such agreements, services to be provided by the Company or from intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties. In addition, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with directors and certain officers and employees that will require the

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5. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

Company, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status or service as directors, officers or employees. Such indemnification provisions are accounted for in accordance with guarantor's accounting and disclosure requirements for guarantees, including indirect guarantees of indebtedness of others. To date, the Company has not incurred, does not anticipate incurring and therefore has not accrued for, any costs related to such indemnification provisions.

        While the outcome of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not believe that the outcome of any claims under indemnification arrangements will have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

    Legal Proceedings

        Pandora has been in the past, and continues to be, a party to privacy and patent infringement litigation which has consumed, and may continue to consume, financial and managerial resources. The Company is also from time to time subject to various other legal proceedings and claims arising in the ordinary course of its business. The Company records a liability when it believes that it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Company management periodically evaluates developments that could affect the amount, if any, of liability that it has previously accrued and makes adjustments as appropriate. Determining both the likelihood and the estimated amount of a loss requires significant judgment, and management's judgment may be incorrect. The Company does not believe the ultimate resolution of any pending legal matters is likely to have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

        In June 2011, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against Pandora in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that it unlawfully accessed and transmitted personally identifiable information of the plaintiffs in connection with their use of the Company's Android mobile application. In addition to civil liability, the amended complaint includes allegations of violations of statutes under which criminal penalties could be imposed if the Company were found liable. Pandora's motion to dismiss the first amended complaint was filed on March 23, 2012. No hearing date is currently set.

        In September 2011, a putative class action lawsuit was filed against Pandora in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that it violated Michigan's video rental privacy law and consumer protection statute by allowing Pandora listeners' listening history to be visible to the public. Pandora's motion to dismiss the complaint was granted with leave to amend on September 28, 2013. Plaintiff consented to entry of judgment. Judgment was entered on November 14, 2012 and the plaintiff filed a notice of appeal on December 14, 2012.

        In April 2011, Augme Technologies, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Pandora alleging patent infringement. The complaint sought injunctive relief and monetary damages. The parties negotiated a full and final settlement of the dispute effective March 11, 2013.

        On September 10, 2012, B.E. Technology, LLC filed suit against Pandora in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee alleging that Pandora infringes a B.E. Technology patent and seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages. Pandora filed its answer on December 31,

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5. Commitments and Contingencies (Continued)

2012. The court has stayed the action pending its decision on the Company's pending motion to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

        On November 16, 2012, 1st Technology, LLC filed suit against Pandora in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleging that Pandora infringes three 1st Technology patents and seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages. The complaint has not been served upon Pandora.

        On January 15, 2012, Unified Messaging Solutions, LLC filed suit against Pandora in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware alleging that Pandora infringes four UMS patents and seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages. Pandora's response is currently due March 29, 2013.

        On February 26, 2013, Macrosolve, Inc. filed suit against Pandora in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging that Pandora infringes a Macrosolve, Inc. patent and seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages. Pandora's response is currently due March 27, 2013.

        The Company currently believes that it has substantial and meritorious defenses to the claims in the lawsuits discussed above and intends to vigorously defend its position.

        The outcome of any litigation is inherently uncertain. Based on the Company's current knowledge it believes that the final outcome of the matters discussed above will not likely, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on its business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows; however, in light of the uncertainties involved in such matters, there can be no assurance that the outcome of each case or the costs of litigation, regardless of outcome, will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's business.

6. Income Taxes

        The provision for income tax expense consists of the following:

 
  Fiscal Year Ended January 31,  
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Current

                   

Federal

  $   $   $  

State and local

    134     75     (4 )

International

            9  
               

Total current income tax expense

    134     75     5  

Deferred

                   

Federal

  $ 244   $ (403 ) $ (10,098 )

State and local

    1,203     (1,457 )   (1,573 )

Valuation allowance

    (1,447 )   1,860     11,671  
               

Total deferred income tax expense

             
               

Total income tax expense

  $ 134   $ 75   $ 5  
               

        The income tax provision decreased by $70,000 from $75,000 to $5,000 as a result of changes in state tax statutes which resulted in lower tax obligations in some states.

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6. Income Taxes (Continued)

        The following table presents a reconciliation of the statutory federal rate and the Company's effective tax rate for the periods presented.

 
  Fiscal Year Ended
January 31,
 
 
  2011   2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

U.S. federal taxes at statutory rate

    34 %   34 %   34 %

State taxes, net of federal benefit

    15          

Permanent differences

    (55 )   (24 )   (2 )

Foreign rate differential

            (2 )

Federal and state credits (net of reserve)

    7     2     2  

Change in valuation allowance

    86     (16 )   (30 )

Change in rate

    (93 )   1     (2 )

Other

    (2 )   3      
               

Effective tax rate

    (8 )%   0 %   0 %
               

        The major components of deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows:

 
  As of January 31,  
 
  2012   2013  
 
  (in thousands)
 

Deferred tax assets:

             

Net operating loss carryforwards

  $ 31,314   $ 36,056  

Tax credit carryforwards

    1,881     3,027  

Allowances and other

    1,960     3,371  

Stock options

    859     4,313  

Depreciation and amortization

    297     257  
           

Total deferred tax assets

    36,311     47,024  

Deferred tax liabilities:

             

Depreciation and amortization

    (2,427 )   (1,469 )
           

Total deferred tax liabilities

    (2,427 )   (1,469 )

Valuation allowance

    (33,884 )   (45,555 )
           

Net deferred tax assets

  $   $  
           

        At January 31, 2013, the Company had federal net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $180.8 million and tax credit carryforwards of approximately $2.5 million. If realized, $92.0 million of the net operating loss carryforwards will be recognized as a benefit through additional paid in capital. The federal net operating losses and tax credits expire in years beginning in 2021. At January 31, 2013, the Company had state net operating loss carryforwards of approximately $203.8 million which expire in years beginning in 2014. In addition, the Company had state tax credit carryforwards of approximately $4.3 million that do not expire.

        Under Section 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, if a corporation undergoes an "ownership change," the corporation's ability to use its pre-change net

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6. Income Taxes (Continued)

operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes, such as research tax credits, to offset its post-change income may be limited. In general, an "ownership change" will occur if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by "5-percent shareholders" that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules may apply under state tax laws. Utilization of the Company's net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards may be subject to annual limitations due to ownership changes. Such annual limitations could result in the expiration of the Company's net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards before they are utilized.

        During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013 the Company's valuation allowance increased by approximately $11.7 million. At January 31, 2012 and 2013, the Company maintained a full valuation allowance on its net deferred tax assets. The valuation allowance was determined in accordance with the provisions of ASC 740, Accounting for Income Taxes, which requires an assessment of both positive and negative evidence when determining whether it is more likely than not that deferred tax assets are recoverable. Such assessment is required on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis. The Company's history of cumulative losses, along with expected future U.S. losses required that a full valuation allowance be recorded against all net deferred tax assets. The Company intends to maintain a full valuation allowance on net deferred tax assets until sufficient positive evidence exists to support reversal of the valuation allowance.

        At January 31, 2013, unrecognized tax benefits of approximately $2.6 million, if recognized, would not affect the Company's effective tax rate as the tax benefit would increase a deferred tax asset which is currently offset with a full valuation allowance. The Company does not anticipate that the amount of existing unrecognized tax benefit will significantly increase or decrease within the next 12 months. Accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits are recorded as income tax expenses. The Company did not recognize any interest, penalties or tax benefits during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2013.

        The Company files income tax returns in the United States, California, other states and international jurisdictions. Tax years 2000 to 2012 remain subject to examination for U.S. federal, state and international purposes. All net operating losses and tax credits generated to date are subject to adjustment for U.S. federal and state purposes. The Company is not currently under examination in any federal, state or international jurisdictions.

7. Debt Instruments

        On May 13, 2011, the Company entered into a $30 million credit facility with a syndicate of financial institutions. The amount of borrowings available under the credit facility at any time is based on the Company's monthly accounts receivable balance at such time, and the amounts borrowed are collateralized by the Company's personal property (including such accounts receivable but excluding intellectual property). At the option of the Company, drawn amounts under the credit facility will bear an interest rate of either (i) an adjusted London Interbank offered, or LIBO, rate plus (A) 3.00% (if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million) or (B) 2.75% (if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million) or (ii) an alternate base rate plus (x) 2.00% (if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million) or (y) 1.75% (if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million). The adjusted LIBO rate is the LIBO rate for a particular interest period multiplied by the statutory reserve rate. The alternate base rate is the greatest of the prime rate, the federal funds effective rate plus 0.5% and the adjusted LIBO rate plus 1%. In addition, the Company pays a non-usage charge on the

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7. Debt Instruments (Continued)

available balance. The non-usage charge is 0.5% if the debt outstanding is greater than or equal to $15 million and 0.625% if the debt outstanding is less than $15 million. Under the credit facility, the Company can request up to $5 million in letters of credit be issued by the financial institutions. The annual charge for any outstanding letter