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Digital
Pandora appoints new chief
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 12 September 2013
Pandora has announced the appointment of a former Microsoft exec to the role of President and CEO, replacing Joe Kennedy, who announced he was stepping down in March.
Brian McAndrews is likely to be a popular hire with investors, as he previously ran digital advertising company aQuantive, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007, resulting in McAndrews spending a year as an SVP at the IT giant. He has since been leading a venture capital outfit investing in tech start-ups.
For investment types it is the advertising side of Pandora’s business that needs the most attention, because ad sales haven’t grown in line with the increase of users at the streaming music firm. With Apple entering the market as a direct competitor, for advertisers as well as users, Wall Street was hoping for a new chief who understands the online ads market.
Confirming his new job, McAndrews told Reuters: “What brought me here is the opportunity. We mostly want to focus on customers and what they want and innovate for them”.
