Pandora's CEO Joe Kennedy Resigns Despite Strong Q4 2012 Numbers - The UpStream

Pandora's CEO Joe Kennedy Resigns Despite Strong Q4 2012 Numbers

posted Sunday Mar 10, 2013 by Nicholas DiMeo

Pandora's CEO Joe Kennedy Resigns Despite Strong Q4 2012 Numbers

Remember last week when I said Pandora has been stuck in some sort of crazy reality of their own and chose to limit the amount of listening done on mobile platforms for free? Well, in a related story, the CEO of Pandora, Joe Kennedy, has stepped down from his position despite the company reporting strong numbers in 2012. Kennedy has run the company since 2004.

In his statement, he said,

As I near the start of my tenth year at the helm of Pandora, I am incredibly proud of the team and what we have accomplished in redefining radio. As part of our Board discussions of the road that lies ahead, I reached the conclusion and advised the Board that the time is right to begin a process to identify my successor. There is a tremendous market opportunity ahead and I look forward to continuing to work with all the great people at Pandora to keep driving the business forward.

Until said successor is found, the CEO will remain in position. This comes as a bit of a surprise, however, as the music-streaming service reported Q4 revenues of $125 million, which is a 54 percent hike against 2011's fourth quarter numbers. For those keeping score at home, $109 million of that revenue came from ads.

In the eight years Joe Kennedy was with Pandora, he was able to get the company to reach very remarkable achievements. Pandora currently has over 67 million monthly active listeners, owns over eight percent of total US radio listening, and for their last fiscal year, was able to bring in $427 million, with $255 million coming from mobile. As I've said, however, their refusal to adapt and change with the times, including killing off their failed use of the music genome project, has led them to play catch up with up-and-comers like Spotify. With rumors spreading of Apple trying to enter the streaming game, on top of Spotify looking to cut cheaper rates with the music labels, perhaps this was the right time to look for a new leader.

So there you have it. If you liked this article and cherish the news you read each day, please do not like, +1 or share it. You may end up filling your timelines and feeds with articles about CEOs from other companies you don't care about. This was an article about Pandora, after all.

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