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Pandora's CEO is stepping down as digital music evolves
The rumors were true: Pandora CEO Tim Westergren has announced that he's stepping down from the company he co-founded 17 years ago. He'll remain in the leadership position while the company searches for a replacement. President Mike Herring and marketing chief Nick Bartle are also leaving, the streaming music company says. While Pandora isn't clear about why the executives are bowing out, it comes after efforts to "refocus and reinforce" the firm by selling its ticket business and taking a $480 million cash infusion from SiriusXM. In other words, it's likely looking for fresh blood as it adapts to a changing digital music landscape.
Pandora's CEO might leave the company he founded
Pandora has had a busy year so far and now, there are rumors circling around co-founder and CEO Tim Westergren. According to Recode, Westergren will be stepping down from his current role. There are currently no candidates to replace him, so he'll likely remain in the CEO slot until someone new is chosen.
Pandora is looking for a buyer
Pandora's recent relaunch as a Premium on-demand streaming service helped to boost CEO Tim Westergren's case that the company was prepared to take on its bigger rivals like Spotify and Apple Music. The company also made a significant investment in its future by buying up Rdio's design team and later revving up its marketing push to lure new users away from the competition. Now, with the ship apparently headed in the right direction, it appears Pandora is putting itself up for sale and possibly trying to get out while the getting is good. According to a new report from CNBC, Pandora is currently in the process of closing a $150 million investment from hedge fund and private equity firm KKR. As part of the deal, a KKR executive will get a seat on Pandora's board while two current members will step down, but until the deal closes in 30 days, the company is positioning itself as an attractive target for acquisition. "Having secured a significant financial commitment from KKR to strengthen the Company's balance sheet," outgoing Pandora board member James M. P. Feuille said in a statement, "we have positioned the Company to evaluate any potential strategic alternatives, including a sale, in the 30 days before the financing is set to close." While Feuille believes Pandora's future is "exciting," a potential sale could bring a lot of uncertainty for Pandora die-hards and scare off potential new users -- some of whom might like to know if the service will still be around at the end of their 30-day free trial. On the other hand, just because Pandora is making itself available doesn't necessarily mean the company wants to get out of the game entirely. If an attractive buyer doesn't come through, the KKR investment is still a healthy infusion of cash for a popular service that is consistently among the top grossing music apps in the App Store.
Pandora cuts its workforce by 7 percent
Streaming is big business, although most of the companies in the space keep a nervous eye on their bank balances. Pandora, the internet radio service that seemed most at risk, has said that it's now doing better, thank you very much. The company has posted its latest financial figures, boasting that it now has 4.3 million paid subscribers and has trimmed some of its losses. Which is nice, although there's a poison pill buried in that news: the company will cut seven percent of its workforce in pursuit of "operational efficiency."
Pandora creator takes over as CEO
Pandora isn't just shaking things up with hints of on-demand listening. The internet radio pioneer's board of directors has abruptly appointed founder Tim Westergren as CEO, with outgoing leader Brian McAndrews leaving the company immediately. It's part of a broader management shakeup that also includes new chief financial, operating and product officers. Just what prompted the changes isn't clear from the official statements -- Pandora only says that these moves are meant to "accelerate the company's growth," and notes how Westergren has been deeply involved since the beginning.
Mini Cooper Connected with Pandora drive-on
Pandora founder and chief strategy officer Tim Westergren just rolled up to our CES trailer in the new Mini Cooper Countryman with Mini Connected, which features integration with Pandora's iOS app when an IPhone is plugged in. Once you plug the phone in and switch to the app, Connected takes over and you navigate and control Pandora using the Mini's rotary jog dial -- BMW doesn't want you to mess with the phone while driving, so the iPhone essentially serves as a 3G modem. The Connected interface is quite clean -- it's definitely more user-friendly than the BMW iDrive system from whence it sprang -- and we were jamming along to 32Kbps Pandora streams in no time. That's a little better than FM quality, and the Pandora app does a little buffering so any gaps or blips in signal are smoothed over. Phone calls are handled by the Mini's Bluetooth system, so Pandora fades out when a call comes in, and fades back in when you hang up. It's definitely slick -- and Pandora is actually just the first Connected app to launch, with more iOS apps from Mini's partners due to come in the future. Video and PR after the break. %Gallery-113316%
