Internet radio star Pandora on Wall Street

Shares in Pandora soared on Wednesday as the Internet radio star made its debut on Wall Street. Pandora, which is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "P," was listed at $16 and briefly surged to $26 before settling at around $21. The Oakland, California-based Pandora raised $235 million with its initial public offering and had a market value of $2.55 billion at its offer price. A total of around six million shares were offered by Pandora while some 8.7 million were presented by selling stockholders. Earlier this month, Pandora had estimated it would launch its stock at $7 to $9 before increasing those figures to $10-$12 and eventually to $16 amid enthusiasm on Wall Street for technology stocks. Business-oriented social network LinkedIn launched on the New York Stock Exchange a month ago and saw its stock price more than double on the first day. Pandora, which has more than 90 million registered users in the United States, has said it is going public in a bid to get the money it needs to grow and become profitable. The bulk of Pandora's revenue comes from advertising, while about 14 percent of the money it takes in comes from subscriptions. But Pandora's revenue has not been enough to offset the high costs of paying royalties on music and the company is hoping to tip the balance with more paid advertising. Pandora creates personalized radio stations for users based upon their favorite artists or songs and has seen booming growth on mobile devices. It does not currently provide service outside the United States.