CEO Westergren: Pandora 'Not For Sale'

Tim Westergren

Money-losing music streaming service Pandora is not for sale and "we intend to be profitable this year," said CEO Tim Westergren on "Squawk Alley" on CNBC. That would be a big turnaround for the company, whose losses more than doubled from $170 million in 2015 to $343 million last year.

With the launch this week of Pandora Premium — the company's first ever on-demand streaming service — the company can out-compete tech giants like Apple and Amazon, he said.

"I am confident about our ability in this space," he said. "These are early days in the subscription of music and listeners don't know what a real premium product looks like yet and that's what Pandora is."



The service will cost $9.99 a month, on a par with pricing from competitors Spotify Premium and Apple Music, and offer on-demand access to any track or album in Pandora's library and tailored playlists. Users will still be able to access the regular Pandora radio-like service if they don't want to choose songs.