ViacomCBS Appoints Naveen Chopra As Chief Financial Officer

ViacomCBS Inc. today announced that Naveen Chopra has been appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, effective August 10, 2020. He succeeds Christina Spade, who will transition into an advisory role after the Company’s second quarter earnings call.

Chopra joins ViacomCBS from Amazon, where he served as Chief Financial Officer of Amazon’s Devices and Services business. In his new role, Chopra will be responsible for ViacomCBS’s financial operations, including treasury, tax, accounting, investor relations, information security and real estate, as well as global corporate development and strategy. Chopra will report to Bob Bakish, President and CEO of ViacomCBS.

Naveen Chopra

“Naveen is a talented leader who combines financial, strategic and operational expertise with hands-on experience growing innovative, consumer-focused businesses across the media and tech sector,” said Bakish. “His experience scaling and driving the financial strategies for growth businesses – including free ad-supported and subscription streaming, as well as with digital devices and services – will be instrumental as we continue to unlock the value of our assets.”

Bakish added, “I am grateful to Chris for her many contributions to ViacomCBS, including her two decades at Showtime and CBS and the pivotal role she played in the integration of CBS and Viacom. I want to extend my deepest thanks to her for her leadership and counsel, and for helping to ensure a smooth transition.”

“I am thrilled to join ViacomCBS at this exciting time,” said Chopra. “Since its merger, the company has gained strong momentum amidst a rapidly evolving landscape by leveraging its subscription and advertising businesses, diverse distribution channels, formidable library and strong content pipeline. I look forward to working closely with Bob and the team to apply my experiences across consumer products and services, streaming and digital advertising to help write the next chapter of this amazing company.”

Previously, Chopra spent two years as Chief Financial Officer of Pandora, the largest audio streaming service in the United States, where he led a significant turnaround of the company and served, for a period, as Interim Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure, the company launched its Pandora Premium subscription service, which grew subscription revenue by more than 60 percent and restored growth in its core advertising businesses. Chopra was also responsible for music licensing and business development efforts at Pandora where he negotiated numerous complex agreements that helped accelerate growth and enable valuable features for consumers.