Roger Lynch
OAKLAND, Calif. � Pandora Media on Monday named Roger Lynch, the former CEO of Sling TV, as its new chief executive, the company announced.� In addition to becoming Pandora�s CEO, Lynch becomes the company�s president and will join its board of directors. Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra, who had been serving as Pandora�s interim CEO since Tim Westergren�s departure in late June, will remain as its CFO.
Pandora selected its new boss almost two months after company co-founder Westergren stepped down from the job, on June 27, less than three weeks after Pandora sold a 19% stake in the company to satellite radio company Sirius XM for $480 million. Under terms of the deal with Sirius, the satellite radio provider was given the right to pick three new members for Pandora�s board of directors, including its next board chairman. Since then, some have speculated that Pandora could end up selling a controlling stake of itself to Sirius, or even Liberty Media, which owns a majority share of Sirius� stock.
Pandora�s shares were 4.3% higher, to $8.41, in after-hours trading Monday, according to the San Jose Mercury news. For the year, however, Pandora�s stock price has fallen more than 35%. Investors are hoping that Lynch will provide some stability to Pandora, which for more than a year has been marked by concerns about its future in the music-streaming market.
Westergren�s second go-around as Pandora�s CEO started in early 2016. Even then he faced calls to explore selling the company as Pandora faced challenges in the music-streaming market from Apple Music and Spotify, according to the same article. Those companies offered on-demand subscription music-streaming options long before Pandora got its $9.99-a-month Pandora Premium service up and running in March.
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