Streaming

Pandora Cuts Staff 14%. Are More Layoffs Ahead?

Pandora
"This is a very sad day for Pandora, and for me personally. Today we reduced our staff from 140 to 120 employees. Like virtually every company, Pandora is not immune to the challenges presented by the current economic turmoil. We are trying to react quickly and responsibly to the new environment…

There are tough times ahead for the economy, but our listenership is growing rapidly, the Internet radio royalty rate resolution seems finally near, and the explosion of mobile devices like the iPhone are opening up a world of opportunity for internet radio to expand off the desktop. Moreover, our ad sales are growing so well that, not only did we not make any reductions there, we need to continue to hire more."

These layoffs come from what is by many measurements one of the more successful music start-ups. As founder Tim Westergren pointed out in the announcement, battles like royalty rates are almost behind the company.  But a bad economy is a bad economy; and Pandora is smart to conserve cash as it works toward profitablitiy. Expect more such announcements before the end of the year from across the music and tech sectors.

Share on: