Shazam, the world's leading media engagement company, today announces that Rich Riley has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. Shazam further announces that Andrew Fisher, who has dynamically lead Shazam as CEO since 2005, has been appointed to the newly created full-time position of Executive Chairman. John Pearson who has been Chairman of the Board since 2006 will become a Non-Executive Director and remain on the board.
With Riley and Fisher in their new positions, and the recent hire of the BBC's Daniel Danker as Chief Product Officer joining the existing executive team, Shazam now has put into place an executive leadership team that will accelerate the company's growth trajectory while continuing to deliver innovation for Shazam's products and services as the company pursues new market opportunities. Shazam now has more than 300 million users in over 200 countries worldwide.
"I am extraordinarily excited to be joining the Shazam team. Andrew Fisher has assembled a world-class organization that has made Shazam a global consumer brand that provides an exceptional consumer experience and has set the stage for the company's next phase of growth," said Rich Riley. "I look forward to extending our dominance in media engagement, from our roots in music to our leadership position in second-screen TV and want to ensure that Shazam is the company that helps people recognize and engage with the world around them."
"I couldn't be more pleased to welcome Rich Riley as Shazam's new Chief Executive Officer," said Andrew Fisher. "Rich brings a tremendous amount of experience both as an Internet executive where he has rapidly scaled global businesses, to establishing strategic relationships with advertisers and partners, as well as his entrepreneurial approach and skills. Whilst Rich will run our business I will now spend more time focusing on our corporate development and future strategy including our ambitions to deliver a successful IPO for our shareholders as we look to become an increasingly important part of people's everyday lives, helping them engage with content and brands in the most efficient way possible."
"I would like to thank John Pearson for his tremendous support as Chairman of Shazam over the past seven years," continued Fisher. "John has worked tirelessly on behalf of our shareholders and I am delighted he will continue to help the company sustain its success as a board member and Non-Executive Director."
Featured by Fortune as one of their 40 Under 40: Ones to watch for 2011, Rich Riley joins Shazam with more than 17 years experience as an entrepreneur and leading Internet executive. Most recently, Riley was EVP Americas for Yahoo! where he was responsible for billions of dollars of revenue and managed a team of thousands, overseeing sales, account management, ad operations, B2B marketing, research and business development across the US, Canada and LatAm. Prior to that, Riley held a variety of roles including MD & SVP of the EMEA Region, SVP of the Small & Medium Business Division as well as corporate and business development roles.
Prior to his more than 13 years with Yahoo, Riley was co-founder and Managing Member of the Internet start-up Log-Me-On.com that developed and patented what is today the Yahoo! Toolbar, which counts hundreds of millions of users and was sold to Yahoo! in 1999. Prior to joining Yahoo! and starting Log-Me-On.com, Riley worked as a Financial Analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in New York City. He graduated Wharton with a BSc. in Economics with Majors in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children and will be based in Shazam's New York office.
Andrew Fisher has served as CEO of Shazam since 2005, leading the company to its current status as a global brand. Fisher has grown the user base since the launch of the app in 2007 to over 300 million users currently - consistently adding more than two million new users every week. The Shazam App is a top 10 app of all time on iOS in terms of installs, is used by over 60 million monthly active users, and drives $300 million in digital sales per year through affiliate partnerships like iTunes and Amazon. Andrew joined Shazam from InfoSpace Inc where he was European Managing Director. At InfoSpace Andrew led the company's significant European growth focusing on music and entertainment services for mobile operators and portal solutions for many leading online service providers. Andrew has led the successful growth of a number of technology-focused enterprises, founding and serving as Managing Director of TDLI.com, which was acquired by InfoSpace Inc, with an enterprise value of $400m after being set up 18 months previously.
The Shazam for TV service, launched in 2011 in the United States for advertising and select television programmes, was expanded in September 2012 to include all US nationwide programming on 160+ channels, essentially every show on every channel. In the last year, over 10 million people in the U.S. have used Shazam as a TV companion app with TV shows and live events, gaining instant access to a blend of show-specific mobile-optimized content and social features, conveniently in one place. Features include the music in the broadcast, cast photos, gossip, tweets about the show, links to official sites, IMDB and Wikipedia, and commerce links to buy show-branded merchandise and previous episodes or renting or buying the movie. Shazam produces custom second-screen experiences for select tent-pole TV events such as the GRAMMY Awards, the Super Bowl, and the Olympic Games, as well as popular programs such as "American Idol" and "Girls."
In the last year, Shazam for TV Advertising, which started in North America, was expanded to the UK, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. Shazam for TV is already generating double-digit millions in revenues, with Shazam for TV Advertising integrated into over 250 TV ad campaigns since launch, including those for A-list global brands such as Pepsi, Toyota, Barclays, Sony Entertainment and many more. Shazam is making TV advertising interactive, essentially "clickable"; people can tap one button and in just a few seconds, instantly arrive at a rich experience for the brand within the Shazam App, extending the 30-second TV ad into several minutes of engagement, getting more information and special offers, and even shopping from the sofa.
Shazam investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Institutional Venture Partners, Acacia Capital and DN Capital.
About Shazam
Shazam is the world's leading media engagement company with more than 300 million people in 200 countries and adding another 2 million new users each week. With the industry's unlimited fastest tagging in the Free and premium Encore Apps on iOS and Android devices, Shazam is the best way for people to discover, explore, buy, and share more music, TV shows and branded content they love.
Shazam makes it easy for people to share their discoveries with their friends on Facebook using the Shazam Friends feature, as well as on Twitter and Google+. For people who don't yet have the Shazam application on their smartphone, it is available for FREE on every major platform and can be found on iTunes App Store, Google play, Amazon App Store, AT&T's AppCenter, Verizon VCast app store, Nokia Store, Windows Phone Marketplace, BlackBerry App World, and GetJar..
For further information about Shazam Entertainment visit www.shazam.com and @ShazamNews. You can also follow us on Facebook or Google+. For daily music updates follow the Shazam Blog and @Shazam.
The Shazam, Shazam Encore, LyricPlay, Shazam for TV names and icons are trademarks of Shazam Entertainment Limited.
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