Pandora

After the coffee. Before deciding if I need the new Kindle. The Skinny: In yet another sign that I'm getting old (as if I needed it), last night was the first time in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards that I didn't tune in for one second. What I won't do is now write a story saying the show is passe because I'm no longer the target audience. Friday's headlines include a grim look at the weekend box office, new contract talks for Fox News chief Roger Ailes, and Christopher Nolan being caught up in a fight between two big Hollywood talent agencies.

Shares of Pandora Media plummeted as much as 21% on Friday after word leaked out that Apple has been in discussions with record labels to launch a competing streaming radio service. Apple's proposed online service, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, would have the potential to disrupt both Internet and traditional radio providers. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple is seeking a more flexible type of music license from the record labels than the one Pandora has. It would allow Apple to select whatever song it wants to play next and tailor selections based on albums in listeners' iTunes music libraries, according two industry executives with knowledge of Apple's plans for the service.

Apple is working on a custom streaming radio service that would challenge Pandora and similar virtual radio stations, according to a report. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said Apple was in talks to license music for a custom-radio service. Such services work by asking users to input their favorite artists or genre of music and matching them with songs from relevant bands or singers. The Journal said Apple's service would work across its devices, including the iPhone, iPad tablet and Mac computers; it might also run on Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Internet radio company Pandora Media's losses tripled in its second quarter but investors didn't seem to mind as they pushed the company's shares up nearly 12% immediately after its financial report was released Wednesday afternoon. Instead, Wall Street focused on Pandora's revenue, which jumped 51% from a year earlier to $101.3 million in the quarter ended July 31. Analysts had expected the Oakland, Calif., company to post $100.4 million in sales. Losses of $5.4 million for the quarter were three times last year's loss of $1.8 million, weighed down by growing music licensing and marketing costs.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the biggest fish in the live music business, has purchased Rexly Inc., a tiny minnow of a music start-up based in San Francisco.  The acquisition, announced Monday, is part of Live Nation's ambitious expansion into digital, which the Beverly Hills company views as a potent channel for reaching new audiences and, ultimately, selling more tickets to its concerts. Last year, Live Nation acquired BigChampagne, a Los Angeles company that measures digital media consumption, particularly music.

Pandora has reportedly spent more than $50,000 this year lobbying Congress to establish a more equal system for how much different forms of radio pay in royalties. The online radio company has been focusing on Congress in preparation for upcoming meetings by the Copyright Royalty Board that will determine how much will be paid in royalties from 2016 to 2020. As a result, Tim Westergren, Pandora's co-founder, is in Washington this week and will be testifying at a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday hoping to sway Congress to establish a system that will charge each form of radio a similar rate in royalties.

On the day Facebook went public other social media stocks have begun to drop like flies. Social media companies such as Zynga, LinkedIn, Groupon and Pandora that went public in the last year began Friday with some poor results, each seeing its stock price drop in the same fashion that Facebook stock began the day. Zynga, the social gaming site that relies on Facebook for the bulk of its users, was the biggest early loser. It saw an all-time low for its shares, at one point hitting $7.10, according to Yahoo Finance.

Investors slammed Pandora Media Inc., sending shares down as much as 21% in after-hours trading, when the Internet radio company reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal fourth quarter and projected that revenue would decline in the current quarter. The stock had closed at $14.27 a share, down 39 cents, in regular trading. After the Oakland Internet radio company reported its results, its shares fell to as low as $11.22 after hours. Pandora's losses widened to $8.2 million for the quarter that ended Jan. 31 from a loss of $1.4 million a year earlier when it was a private company.

Online radio service Pandora Media Inc. posted a modest profit in its third quarter, beating most Wall Street analysts' expectations for the Oakland company. Pandora recorded net income of $638,000 on $75 million in revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with a loss of $1.8 million on sales of $37.7 million the year before. On a per-share basis, however, the company reported a break-even quarter versus a 15-cent loss last year. Pandora gets roughly 88% of its revenue from advertising.

With news that Disney has reached licensing agreements that will allow it to bring “Avatar” rides and attractions to its theme parks (Florida first, maybe as early as 2016), we have to ponder this question: How much do you really remember about the movie? It's only been a couple of years since the blockbuster film made its debut. And sequels are said to be in the works for 2014 and 2015. And, most important, the true aficionado will never forget. On the other hand, others may never have known.