As the Company Sharpens Its Focus on Its Core
Business, Thorsen Will Play a Critical Role in Aligning
Technology, Commercial, and Strategy
NEW
YORK, Dec. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirius XM
Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced that it has appointed
Wayne D. Thorsen, former Executive
Vice President and Chief Business Officer of ADT Inc., to serve as
SiriusXM's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer,
effective December 16, 2024.
In the newly-created role of COO, Thorsen will oversee
SiriusXM's product and technology functions and be responsible for
aspects of the Company's commercial activities, business
development including automotive and streaming distribution
arrangements, certain consumer marketing activities such as
subscriber acquisition, and corporate strategy. He will report
directly to SiriusXM's Chief Executive Officer, Jennifer Witz, and play an instrumental role in
executing the Company's updated strategic direction that was
separately announced today. As the Company sharpens its focus on
its core business, Thorsen will lead SiriusXM's efforts to closely
monitor the return on marketing and technology investments to drive
greater operational efficiency and enhance the listener
experience.
Thorsen most recently served at ADT Inc. where he led product
management, engineering, business development, and several other
key functions. His leadership was pivotal in accelerating the
Company's growth strategy by emphasizing its strategic
differentiators and innovative offerings. Thorsen led the
transformation of ADT's technology teams culminating in the launch
of the ADT+ platform, which included award-winning hardware and one
of the highest-rated apps in the smart home and security category.
Additionally, he spearheaded the recent successful rollout of
Trusted Neighbor, the flagship product on the new platform. During
his tenure at ADT, he redefined the product and solution portfolio,
led ADT's key partnerships, guided their shift into AI with
partnerships with Google and Sierra, and helped drive operational
efficiency throughout the company. He previously held executive
positions at Google Inc., a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Social
Finance, Inc., the predecessor of SoFi Technologies, Inc., Viacom,
Inc., a multinational media and entertainment company, Telefónica
Digital, the digital business unit of Telefónica, a global
telecommunications company, and Microsoft, the multinational
technology company.
"We are pleased to add Wayne to the SiriusXM team at this
pivotal time for the Company," said Jennifer Witz, Chief Executive Officer of
SiriusXM. "Wayne is a seasoned leader who brings significant
experience driving business development and innovation, and he is
well-positioned to help guide the Company through this next chapter
as we sharpen our focus on delivering meaningful results alongside
greater efficiency. While at Google, where Wayne led business
development for the devices and services division, Wayne was a
wonderful partner for SiriusXM, and I look forward to working
closely with him to drive SiriusXM forward."
"As a long-time SiriusXM subscriber myself, I have always
admired SiriusXM's platform and its commitment to providing
listeners with unmatched content. It is an honor to join this
Company as it enters its next phase," said Thorsen. "This is an
important time for SiriusXM, and strong execution will be critical
as the Company implements its new strategy. I'm excited to work
alongside Jennifer and the rest of the SiriusXM leadership team to
turn the company's vision into results-driven, efficient action,
and capture the opportunity ahead."
The Company also disclosed today that Joseph Inzerillo has stepped down from his role
as Chief Product and Technology Officer, effective immediately, to
pursue other opportunities. Inzerillo spearheaded the
transformation of SiriusXM's tech platform and led the launch of
the Company's new streaming app.
About Wayne
Thorsen
Thorsen served as Executive Vice President
and Chief Business Officer of ADT Inc. since January 2023, where he was responsible for
leading ADT's product, engineering, innovation and business
development teams. From May 2018
until January 2023, Thorsen served as
Vice President, Devices and Services Business Development at
Google, where he led partnerships for Nest, Pixel, Chromecast,
Google Home, Fitbit, Google Labs, Google Fi, and the smart home
ecosystem. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President, Marketing
and Strategic Partnerships at Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi) from 2017
to 2018. He has extensive experience in business development,
strategic partnerships, product development, and marketing,
including leadership roles at SoFi, Rune, Inc., Viacom, Telefónica
Digital, BlueKai and Microsoft.
About Sirius XM Holdings
Inc.
SiriusXM is
the leading audio entertainment company in North America with a portfolio of audio
businesses including its flagship subscription entertainment
service SiriusXM; the ad-supported and premium music streaming
services of Pandora; an expansive podcast network; and a suite of
business and advertising solutions. Reaching a combined monthly
audience of approximately 150 million listeners, SiriusXM offers a
broad range of content for listeners everywhere they tune in with a
diverse mix of live, on-demand, and curated programming across
music, talk, news, and sports. For more about SiriusXM, please go
to: www.siriusxm.com.
This communication contains "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to,
statements about future financial and operating results, our plans,
objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future
operations, products and services; and other statements identified
by words such as "will likely result," "are expected to," "will
continue," "is anticipated," "estimated," "believe," "intend,"
"plan," "projection," "outlook" or words of similar meaning. Such
forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and
expectations of our management and are inherently subject to
significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and
contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally
beyond our control. Actual results and the timing of events may
differ materially from the results anticipated in these
forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual
results and the timing of events to differ materially from the
anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the
forward-looking statements: Risks Relating to our Business and
Operations: We face substantial competition and that
competition is likely to increase over time; if our efforts to
attract and retain subscribers and listeners, or convert listeners
into subscribers, are not successful, our business will be
adversely affected; we engage in extensive marketing efforts and
the continued effectiveness of those efforts is an important part
of our business; we rely on third parties for the operation of our
business, and the failure of third parties to perform could
adversely affect our business; we are migrating our billing system
and payment processing function to a new service provider; failure
to successfully monetize and generate revenues from podcasts and
other non-music content could adversely affect our business,
operating results, and financial condition; we may not realize the
benefits of acquisitions or other strategic investments and
initiatives; the impact of economic conditions may adversely affect
our business, operating results, and financial condition; and we
may be adversely affected by the war in Ukraine. Risks Relating to our Sirius XM
Business: A substantial number of our Sirius XM service
subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions and we cannot
predict how successful we will be at retaining customers; our
ability to profitably attract and retain subscribers to our Sirius
XM service is uncertain; our business depends in part upon the auto
industry; failure of our satellites would significantly damage our
business; and our Sirius XM service may experience harmful
interference from wireless operations. Risks Relating to our
Pandora and Off-platform Business: Our Pandora ad-supported
business has suffered a substantial and consistent loss of monthly
active users, which may adversely affect our Pandora and
Off-platform business; our Pandora and Off-platform business
generates a significant portion of its revenues from advertising,
and reduced spending by advertisers could harm our business; our
failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our Pandora
ad-supported service could harm our business; if we are unable to
maintain revenue growth from our advertising products our results
of operations will be adversely affected; changes to mobile
operating systems and browsers may hinder our ability to sell
advertising and market our services; and if we fail to accurately
predict and play music, comedy or other content that our Pandora
listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing and attract new
listeners. Risks Relating to Laws and Governmental
Regulations: Privacy and data security laws and regulations may
hinder our ability to market our services, sell advertising and
impose legal liabilities; consumer protection laws and our failure
to comply with them could damage our business; failure to comply
with FCC requirements could damage our business; environmental,
social and governance expectations and related reporting
obligations may expose us to potential liabilities, increased
costs, reputational harm, and other adverse effects; and we may
face lawsuits, incur liability or suffer reputational harm as a
result of content published or made available through our services.
Risks Associated with Data and Cybersecurity and the Protection
of Consumer Information: If we fail to protect the security of
personal information about our customers, we could be subject to
costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and
our reputation could suffer; we use artificial intelligence in our
business, and challenges with properly managing its use could
result in reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability
and adversely affect our results of operations; and interruption or
failure of our information technology and communications systems
could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business.
Risks Associated with Certain Intellectual Property Rights:
The market for music rights is changing and is subject to
significant uncertainties; our Pandora services depend upon
maintaining complex licenses with copyright owners, and these
licenses contain onerous terms; failure to protect our intellectual
property or actions by third parties to enforce their intellectual
property rights could substantially harm our business and operating
results; some of our services and technologies may use "open
source" software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our
services or require that we release the source code subject to
those licenses; and rapid technological and industry changes and
new entrants could adversely impact our services. Other
Operational Risks: If we are unable to attract and retain
qualified personnel, our business could be harmed; our facilities
could be damaged by natural catastrophes or terrorist activities;
the unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation could have
an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition; we may
be exposed to liabilities that other entertainment service
providers would not customarily be subject to; and our business and
prospects depend on the strength of our brands. Risks Related to
the Transactions: We may have a significant indemnity
obligation to Liberty Media, which is not limited in amount or
subject to any cap, if the transactions associated with the
Split-Off are treated as a taxable transaction; we may determine to
forgo certain transactions that might otherwise be advantageous in
order to avoid the risk of incurring significant tax-related
liabilities; we may not realize the potential benefits from the
Transactions in the near term or at all; we have assumed and are
responsible for all of the liabilities attributed to the Liberty
SiriusXM Group as a result of the completion of the Transactions,
and acquired the assets of Liberty Sirius XM Holdings Inc. on an
"as is, where is" basis; we may be a target of securities class
action and derivative lawsuits in connection with the Transactions;
it may be difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if doing
so may be beneficial to our stockholders; we have overlapping
directors with Liberty Media, which may lead to conflicting
interests; our directors and officers are protected from liability
for a broad range of actions; our holding company structure could
restrict access to funds of its subsidiaries that may be needed to
pay third party obligations; on a standalone basis and on a
consolidated basis, we have significant indebtedness, and our
subsidiaries' debt contains certain covenants that restrict its
operations; and our ability to incur additional indebtedness to
fund our operations could be limited, which could negatively impact
its operations. Additional factors that could cause our results to
differ materially from those described in the forward-looking
statements can be found in the prospectus filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on July 23, 2024, which forms
part of Liberty Sirius XM Holdings Inc.'s Registration Statement on
Form S-4 (File No. 333-276758) and available at the SEC's Internet
site (http://www.sec.gov). The information set forth herein speaks
only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or
obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of
developments occurring after the date of this
communication.
Source: SiriusXM
Investor Contacts:
Hooper Stevens
212-901-6718
hooper.stevens@siriusxm.com
Natalie Candela
212-901-6672
natalie.candela@siriusxm.com
Media Contact:
Maggie
Mitchell
617-797-1443
maggie.mitchell@siriusxm.com
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SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.