Tidal Loses Its Third CEO in Two Years

Tidal CEO Jeff Toig has left the company after holding the position for 14 months.

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Image via Getty/Taylor Hill

jay z tidal

Looking for a summer job? We hear there’s a vacancy at Tidal.

The streaming service announced Friday that Jeff Toig has stepped down as its chief executive officer, marking the third time in just two years that the company has lost a CEO. According to Billboard, Toig officially left in March, which means he only held the position for 14 months.

“As part of Tidal’s continued expansion this year we will be announcing a new CEO in the coming weeks,” Tidal officials wrote in a statement. “We wish former CEO, Jeffrey Toig, all the best in his future endeavors.”

Toig was hired as CEO in early 2016, replacing interim executive Peter Tonstad, who took over for Tidal’s original CEO Andy Chen. He entered the company after serving two years as SoundCloud's chief business officer. And prior to that, he was the founder and vice president of Cricket Wireless’s music service Muve Music, as well as a member of the Virgin Mobile USA founding team.

Even under Toig’s leadership, Tidal struggled to keep up with its competitors. According to Engadget, the streaming service has around 1 million paid subscribers, which is nowhere near Apple Music’s 20 million or Spotify’s 30 million.

It’s unclear why Toig decided to leave the company, but the timing of his departure is notable. As Billboard points out, Toig left shortly after Sprint purchased a 33 percent stake in Tidal for a reported $200 million. The companies have not revealed many details about the partnership, but they did reveal Sprint customers would have unlimited access to exclusive artist content.

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