Popular streaming radio service Pandora plans to stop offering its service in New Zealand and Australia, a spokesperson told Billboard this afternoon. Australia and New Zealand are currently the only non-U.S. locations where the company operates, and Pandora has decided to focus its business solely on the United States.

A Pandora spokesperson told Billboard that after much analysis, it was decided to discontinue operations in the two countries over the next few weeks. "While our experience in these markets reinforces the broader global opportunity long-term, in the short-term we must remain laser-focused on the expansion of our core business in the United States," the rep said.

Pandora plans to begin shutting down operations in the two countries over the course of the next few weeks, which means its international offices in those locations will be shuttered. Pandora has somewhere around 5 million listeners in Australia and New Zealand, and it employs approximately 60 people at its offices in Australia.

pandora premium
As Pandora prepares to pull out of Australia and New Zealand, Pandora founder Tim Westergren today stepped down from his position as CEO, also exiting the company's board of directors. Pandora president Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle are also leaving the company.

In a statement, Westergren, who has twice left his role as CEO over the years, said Pandora is "perfectly poised for its next chapter." Under his leadership, Pandora launched its "Pandora Premium" on-demand streaming service and got a major investment from SiriusXM.

Westergren said, "I am incredibly proud of the company we have built. We invented a whole new way of enjoying and discovering music and in doing so, forever changed the listening experience for millions. I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated. We rebuilt Pandora's relationships with the music industry; launched a fantastic Premium on-demand service, and brought a host of tech innovations to our advertising business. With these in place, plus a strengthened balance sheet, I believe Pandora is perfectly poised for its next chapter."

As of Q1 2017 [PDF], Pandora had 4.71 million subscribers across its Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium subscription options, and more than 80 million active users. Until March, Pandora didn't offer a service that competed with Apple Music, but Pandora Premium is seeing significant early interest, with 500,000 trial subscriptions during its first weeks of availability.

Apple Music now has more than 27 million subscribers, a new number shared by Apple on June 5.

Tag: Pandora

Top Rated Comments

omihek Avatar
101 months ago
Pandora is the one service that gets me and my music tastes. If they need to zoom in and focus on one area to make sure they stay afloat then I say this is a good decision.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Scottsoapbox Avatar
101 months ago
Ha I just switched to Pandora Premium today.

Best service to enjoy familiar and new music for people without time to (re)build playlists and search for jems.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DrumApple Avatar
101 months ago
Pandora is so inferior to Spotify and Apple Music they should really just cut their losses now. They'll never be a top contender.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan110 Avatar
101 months ago
I wish Apple would've bought Pandora instead of Beats. Pandora has a better product that Beats. They could've easily made better hardware on their own. Or worked with Bose to cobranded or codevelop headphones with amazing sound quality.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WiiDsmKR69 Avatar
101 months ago
Ha I just switched to Pandora Premium today.

Best service to enjoy familiar and new music for people without time to (re)build playlists and search for jems.
Nailed it .

Their playlists were great, have yet to see this on Spotify or Apple Music.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wheelhot Avatar
101 months ago
Apple should just buy Pandora just for their playlist tech.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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