The music world and tech world has been left scratching their heads after Deezer issued an announcement that CEO Axel Dauchez would be stepping down from his position in September. While they wait for a permanent replacement, “o-founder Daniel Marhely, COO Christopher Coonen, board chairman Didier Bench and US CEO Tyler Goldman will lead the company,” as reported by Billboard.
Deezer had previously been rumored to launch in the US this year, and either Axel Dauchez’ departure is part of that plan – sources inside Deezer have told Rude Baguette that the company has been looking for a more international management team since last year in order to embrace its US launch – or it is a kink in the chain, and will delay Deezer’s launch.
The story: Axel Dauchez (now ex-Deezer CEO) was fired by Access Industries. Investors angry – waiting for an international momentum.
— Hugo (Ashwani) Sedouramane (@Indixit) April 29, 2014
L’Opinion’s Hugo Sedourmane speculated that Axel Dauchez’s departure was due to investor disappointment following a delay in Deezer’s roll-out to the United States, or international expansion stalls in general; meanwhile, other sources quoted a Deezer spokesperson as saying that Dauchez already had a second gig lined up, with L’Express speculating that Dauchez might have been tapped for the DG France role at Netflix, who is set to launch in France before the end of this year.
In the coming months, what’s clear is that Deezer is about to go to war. They are still looking for a key partner in the US to help with their launch, which may or not be in addition to their recent Samsung partnership. They have made strides in their product at a time where many are complaining of Spotify’s new UI – now they just need a general (read: CEO).
Image Credit: Heisenberg Media