Founder of Pandora Media returns as CEO

Pandora Media, owner of the world’s largest Internet music streaming service, announced Monday that company founder Tim Westergren is replacing Brian McAndrews as CEO.

“Tim is a visionary who forever changed how music is enjoyed by leading the development of Pandora’s Music Genome Project in the early 2000s,” the California company said in a statement.

Westergren’s appointment is effective immediately.

“I am incredibly excited about the future of Pandora,” he said. “I’m 100 percent committed to Pandora’s growth strategy, as is our executive team and Board.”

“We are pursuing a onceinageneration opportunity to create a massive, vibrant music marketplace. We have the audience, the technology infrastructure, the monetization engine and most importantly the right team with the passion and commitment to do it,” he said.

Pandora Media also named Mike Herring as its new chief financial officer and Sara Clemens as chief operating officer, while Jim Feuille stays on as chairman of the board.

The popular app launched by Westergren early in the year 2000 has become the world’s largest online radio service with some 78 million subscribers, but faces fierce competition from other applications like Spotify and Apple Music.

Pandora closed 2015 with losses of almost $170 million, much worse than the $30.4 million it lost in 2014, though its revenues rose almost 21 percent to $1.16 billion.