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Meredith names new CEO; Pandora to lay off 5% of workforce

S&P Global Market Intelligence presents a weekly rundown of executive changes in the U.S. media and communications industries.

TOP STORIES

* Pandora Media Inc. will reduce its employee base by about 5% as part of cost-saving measures, according to a Jan. 31 Form 8-K filing. The company intends to redeploy existing employees and hire for new positions, as it plans to shift its focus on ad-tech and audience development efforts. The layoffs, which the company's board approved Jan. 11, are anticipated to be completed in the first quarter. Pandora will also increase its workforce in Atlanta, where costs are lower than at its headquarters in Oakland, Calif.

* Meredith Corp.'s board elected Steve Lacy executive chairman and Tom Harty president and CEO of the company, effective Feb. 1. Lacy is currently chairman and CEO of the company, while Harty is president and COO. Harty in his new role will continue to lead Meredith's National and Local Media Groups, and direct the integration of the Time Inc. acquisition. He will also start overseeing Meredith's Finance and Legal functions, the company said Jan. 29.

Media industry moves

* Monster Worldwide Inc. agreed to sell its Asia-Pacific business to increase focus on its North America and Europe businesses. The company said Jan. 31 that it is selling its business in India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East to Quess Corp Ltd., an integrated business services provider in India. A majority of the Monster Worldwide employees in the region will transfer to the new organization, with the exception of those at the Technology Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and in India, some tech and product employees as well as a strategic U.S. outbound sales team in India that will be retained.

* Spectrum Co LLC, the ATSC 3.0 spectrum consortium founded by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Nexstar Media Group Inc., named John Hane president of the group. Hane previously was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of global law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, according to a Jan. 31 news release.

* LifeApps Brands Inc. named Bobby Blair CEO, the company said Jan. 31. Robert Gayman, the acting CEO of LifeApps Brands, will remain with the company as chairman of the board, the company said Jan. 31.

* Sheetal Jaitly will continue to lead TribalScale as CEO, the company said Jan. 30. TribalScale also named Kirstine Stewart president and chief revenue officer. In this role, Stewart will oversee the company's continued international expansion, and will lead the sales and revenue growth of TribalScale. Stewart, who previously served Diply as chief strategy officer, will remain in an advisory position to Diply, in addition to the other advisory roles she holds at other companies.

* Nikhil Chandhok, Google Inc.'s director of product for augmented reality, left the company to become Facebook Inc.'s director of product for Camera/AR, the executive announced on social media. "As I join the Camera/AR team at Facebook, I'm looking forward to building upon a platform that allows for the creation and discovery of global AR experiences everywhere. I'm especially interested in building more conversation and momentum in cross-platform camera services," Chandhok said in a LinkedIn post. Chandhok co-founded AI startup Bento Labs Inc., which raised $2 million from GV and First Round Capital, among others, according to TechCrunch. Google is a unit of Alphabet Inc.

* Entertainment One Ltd. said Jan. 29 that it appointed Mark Gordon president and chief content officer of film, television and digital. In this newly created role, Gordon will lead the company's creative units. Entertainment One also named Steve Bertram president of film, television and digital. Bertram will oversee all commercial and distribution operations in this role.

* Match Group Inc. named Ariel Charytan CEO of OkCupid. Charytan succeeds Elie Seidman who recently joined Tinder as CEO, the company said Jan. 29. Previously, Charytan was senior vice president at Amazon.com Inc. unit Audible.

* Former Thrive Global executive Kathryn Friedrich joined Verizon Communications Inc. unit Oath Inc. as chief business officer of RYOT Studio, while former American Express Co. executive Karen Schmidt will serve as vice president, head of B2B Field Marketing. The appointments are expected to help Oath globally expand RYOT Studio, which currently has a presence in 14 countries across five continents, the company said Jan. 29. Friedrich previously was the chief marketing and revenue officer at Thrive Global. Schmidt previously served American Express as vice president, global head of sales enablement for the global commercial services division.

* Verizon unit Oath named Vanessa Wittman its new CFO, the company said Jan. 26. Oath's former CFO Holly Hess will assume a newly created role at Verizon where she will oversee Verizon's previously announced $10 billion cost-savings initiative. Wittman will work with Oath CEO Tim Armstrong to help with Oath's strategic expansion. Wittman previously was CFO at various other companies such as Dropbox Inc.

* David George, president of ITV America, has been promoted to CEO, Deadline reported Jan. 25. He replaces Brent Montgomery, who was named chief executive of the ITV Plc unit in 2015, following the U.K. TV giant's acquisition of Montgomery's Leftfield Pictures for $360 million. George, a former colleague of Montgomery at Leftfield, took the role of ITV America president in 2017. Montgomery, who is nearing the end of his contract, is leaving to establish his own production company, which bagged a production partnership with ITV America. He will remain a consultant to ITV America for the next six months. Joining Montgomery at his new company is Ed Simpson, who was executive vice president of business development and international at ITV America.

* Apple Inc. recruited Kashif Zafar, a senior vice president from Amazon's audio books business Audible, in December 2017, Bloomberg News reported Jan. 25.

* Cinemark Holdings Inc. promoted Sean Gamble to COO of the company in addition to his current role as CFO. Also, the company said Jan. 25 that it tapped Wanda Gierhart to be executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the company. Gamble has served as executive vice president and CFO for Cinemark since August 2014. Gierhart previously was chief marketing officer for several organizations, including Neiman Marcus Group, Design Within Reach and Limited Brands.

* Bo Young Lee joined Uber Technologies Inc. as its first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Recode reported Jan. 23, citing sources. Lee, who previously was global diversity and inclusion officer at financial services firm Marsh, will assume her new role in March, Uber confirmed.

Communications industry moves

* DISH Network Corp. purchased ParkiFi LLC, a company that builds and sells patent-pending internet of things-enabled parking sensors with cloud-based analytics, the company said Feb. 1. ParkiFi co-founder Ryan Sullivan will lead a new team at DISH that will sell and support products and services for the brand. Meanwhile, DISH Network is laying off about 90 workers at its El Paso, Texas, manufacturing facility, following a decrease in demand for equipment-refurbishing services, KFOX14 reported Jan. 30. The El Paso facility, which receives DISH equipment from customer refurbishes, is consolidating its manufacturing operations into the first and second shifts, thus eliminating the third-shift operations, DISH spokesman John Hall reportedly said. Employees affected were given two months to prepare for the layoff, the report said.

* NEXT Group Holdings Inc. appointed Michael Naparstek global CFO of the company. Naparstek previously was the lead engagement partner of an independent registered accounting firm, the company said Jan. 31. Meanwhile, Adiv Baruch also joined NEXY Group Holdings as chief strategy officer, effective immediately. Baruch has served on the company's board since 2016, according to a Jan. 30 news release.

* Former Virgin Media executive Dana Strong has joined Comcast Corp. as president of consumer services. In this role, Strong will oversee the go-to-market strategy of the residential business of Comcast Cable, the company said Jan. 26. She will also be in charge of Comcast's Xfinity brand and products. Strong previously served Liberty Global plc unit Virgin Media as president and COO.

* Former Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. CEO Meg Whitman has been tapped to become CEO of mobile media startup NewTV, effective March 1, Reuters reported Jan. 25. Whitman stepped down as Hewlett Packard Enterprise's CEO on Feb. 1, with President Antonio Neri taking over the post. She was also shortlisted for the CEO post at Uber, which was ultimately given to Dara Khosrowshahi.