French music streaming platform Deezer has announced the departure of its CEO Jeronimo Folgueira, citing his decision to resign a move that will allow him to “devote himself to personal projects”.
The news follows the release of positive financials for Deezer, adding 1.1 million new users over the course of 2023, up to 10.5 million subscribers, annual revenues growing by 7.4 per cent last year to €484.7 million, and the reduction of annual operating losses from €166.7 million in 2022 to €64.4 million in 2023.
However, these positives come with a caveat — Deezer’s total number of paying subscribers remained stagnant at 5.6 million in both 2022 and 2023, and of that €484.7 million in annual revenues, 59 per cent is derived from Deezer’s home market.
Before beginning his tenure at Deezer in May 2021, Folgueira held the positions of CEO and board director at Spark Networks in Berlin. While with Spark, he spearheaded the company’s evolution through three strategic M&A deals, and guided the company to a successful listing on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2017, earning him the distinction of being the youngest European CEO listed on the NYSE at that time.
Deezer listed on 5 July 2022 via a merger with I2PO, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) headed up by former senior executive with WarnerMedia, Iris Knobloch, at a $1.1 billion valuation.
The Euronext Europe listed company began trading shares at €5.10, bottoming out at €1.24 on 14 April 2023. Today’s closing price saw the company trading at €2.18, and an all time share value decrease of 57.25 per cent.
According to a statement released by Deezer, Folgueira will remain in his role in full until the end of March 2024, meanwhile, the Board of Directors leads a process to appoint a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
On his decision to step down, Folgueira commented:
“I am extremely proud of everything we have achieved over the last 3 years, not only our good financial results for 2023 announced today but also our listing on the Euronext Paris market, our new identity brand, our evolution towards an experience services platform and our creation of a new Artist Centric compensation model.
“I am also grateful to the exceptional management team, everyone who works at Deezer, as well as our board of directors, and especially our president Iris Knobloch, and our vice-president Guillaume d'Hauteville, for their support .
“It has been an honour to serve Deezer as Managing Director and I remain fully committed to supporting the company during the transition period.”
Lead image via Deezer.
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