Pandora stock fell more than 9% Monday on the news the audio streaming service has replaced its CEO with founder Tim Westergren, effective immediately (see our other story.)
The news comes on the heels of buyout rumors.
We reported last month Pandora had reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to assess strategic options, which could include a potential sale, according to Bloomberg.
The company recently reported in its fourth-quarter results it lost $170 million in 2015 on 250 million registered users and is likely to lose another $80 million this year.
Efforts to reach Pandora to ask about the buyout rumors and why it’s chosen now to shuffle management were not successful.
Westergren will now oversee Pandora’s expansion into on-demand streaming and concert promotion as new revenue sources.
Though Pandora remains the largest Internet audio pure-play streamer, surpassing 81 million users in 2015, Spotify and Apple Music are gaining.
Pandora Media dropped $1.34 to close at $9.60 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, a more than 12% dip.
I do not pretend to know what business Mr Westergen thought Pandora was in, but I remember early comments by Mr Westergen on how he defined his competition as Radio and would run Radio broadcasters out of business. I thought at the time, what an unfortunate thing to say and it reminds me of when Radio broadcasters fight to be the “tallest Pygmy” by only targeting the Radio slice of the ad pie vs fighting to expand the Audio/Radio slice of the ad pie by accentuating the positives of audio/radio and the results we provide. While the Pandora product is different there is an opportunity to help all Ships in the Audio Sea to rise together.
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