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Pandora CEO Tim Westergren and two other top execs are leaving the company

Jason Hirschhorn joins Pandora’s board.

Asa Mathat for Vox Media
Peter Kafka covers media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Now it’s official: Pandora CEO Tim Westergren is out, along with two other top execs at the streaming music company he co-founded 17 years ago.

This is the move we told you was coming two days ago. The company doesn’t have a replacement for Westergren. While some thought he might stick around while Pandora found a new CEO, CFO Naveen Chopra will step in as interim CEO instead.

Also on their way out: Mike Herring, who came on as CFO in 2013 and became the company’s president in 2016; and Nick Bartle, who was hired as chief marketing officer last fall.

Westergren will also leave the company’s board of directors; his slot will be filled by digital media veteran Jason Hirschhorn.

All of those moves come as Pandora prepares to sell a minority stake to satellite music company Sirius XM for $480 million. That deal will also give Sirius three seats on Pandora’s board and a path to eventually controlling Pandora.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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