Pandora’s Tim Westergren is to step down as the streaming music company’s CEO as CFO Naveen Chopra is named interim CEO.
Westergren co-founded the company 17 years ago with Brian McAndrews, who he succeeded as the firm’s CEO in March last year. With the new changes, Pandora have also appointed Jason Hirschhorn to its Board of Directors, filling a recently vacated seat.
Speaking about the change, Pandora board member Tim Leiweke said: “On behalf of the entire board, I would like to thank Tim for his vision and his many years of leadership that have created one of the most recognized brands in streaming music today. Tim stepped in to be CEO at a critical time for the company and was quickly able to reset relations with the major labels, launch our on-demand service, reconstitute the management team and refortify our balance sheet by securing an investment from Sirius XM. We support Tim’s desire to identify a new CEO for Pandora’s next stage.”
Westergren re-joined the board to help the launch of Pandora’s interactive streaming efforts, including its $9.99-a-month on-demand service Pandora Premium.
Speaking about his decision, Westergren said: “I am incredibly proud of the company we have built. We invented a whole new way of enjoying and discovering music and in doing so, forever changed the listening experience for millions. I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated. We rebuilt Pandora’s relationships with the music industry; launched a fantastic Premium on-demand service, and brought a host of tech innovations to our advertising business. With these in place, plus a strengthened balance sheet, I believe Pandora is perfectly poised for its next chapter.”
“We are also thrilled to welcome Jason Hirschhorn to the board,” added Leiweke. “Jason is a uniquely talented individual who brings highly relevant consumer media experience to our board and will lend valuable counsel as we focus on driving long-term value for our shareholders. With this new addition to the board, as well as our recently announced partnership with Sirius XM and our sale of Ticketfly, we have added significant intellectual and capital resources to Pandora, and we are confident that the company is in a better position than ever to capture an increasing share of the music listening audience.”
By Alex Pearson
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