Pandora lays off staff
January 13, 2017
By Chris Forrester
Struggling music streaming service Pandora is laying off 7 per cent of its staff. The decision to downsize is said to be direct result of the failure of a buy-out of Pandora by pay-radio broadcaster SiriusXM.
“Making workforce reductions is always a difficult decision,” Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said. “But the commitment to cost discipline will allow us to invest more heavily in product development and strategic investments.”
The actual layoffs affect 155 staff out of the total 2219.
According to reports there are now more than 100 million US subscribers to streaming music services, and while the numbers are dominated by Spotify and Apple (and a reported 50+ per cent paying for ‘Premium’ streaming versions).
Pandora Plus, its premium service, has more than 4.3 million subscribers. However, Pandora’s ‘free-to-listen’ service has 80 million unique users and where the system carries advertising.