Napster shifts UK sales and marketing to Frankfurt

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 27 Feb 2007 at 09:11

Napster is moving large parts of its UK operation to Frankfurt in a bid to cut costs.

Sales, marketing and management for the digital music service will be relocated to Germany, with UK general manager Leanne Sharman leaving the company. She follows Jeff Smith, the director of UK and International programming at Napster who left last week to take over as Radio 2's head of music.

Brad Duea, president of Napster, said consolidating its European operations will accelerate the move to profitability, but will not affect the quality of the UK service.

'We have been delighted with the performance of our services in Europe and believe that having seasoned programming execs who understand their local market has been a key driver to our robust growth, so Napster will continue to focus on strong local programming in each market,' he said.

Earlier this month Napster announced record quarterly revenues and a sharp reduction of its losses. Its improving financial situation, coupled with the appointment of a new board member with considerable experience of corporate acquisitions, renewed speculation that the company is seeking a buyer.