Music streaming service Pandora will close its doors in Australia and New Zealand after five years, with its North Sydney office to shut next month.
The company, which has struggled to gain a foothold locally up against the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, will end its service for Australian listeners “over the next few weeks.”
“After diligent analysis, we have decided to discontinue our operations in Australia and New Zealand and expect to wind down the service for listeners over the next few weeks,” a spokesman said in a statement.
“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.”
Pandora’s Australia and New Zealand operation was its only non-US effort to date. It’s understood the closure will affect around 60 jobs across Australia and New Zealand, while the company counts approximately 1.2 million subscribers here.
The US company’s CEO Tim Westergren stepped down overnight, with CFO Naveen Chopra to fill the top spot as interim CEO look for a permanent replacement.
Pandora’s president Mike Herring and chief marketing officer Nick Bartle are also stepping down.
“I came back to the CEO role last year to drive transformation across the business. We accomplished far more than we anticipated,” Westergren said in a statement.
“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.”
The news follows the local closures of music streaming service Guvera and JB Hi-Fi NOW in 2016, and Deezer this year.
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