Shazam CEO and former Yahoo exec Rich Riley in his New Canaan home office.—Michael Catarevas photo
It’s been another year of success for New Canaan’s Rich Riley. The CEO of Shazam Entertainment was just named #57 on the Billboard Power 100. He entered the list last year for the first time, also at #57. On its website the magazine had this to report about the 42-year-old and his company:
‘The song-identification app had a record year, zooming from 86 million active users per month in 2014 to 120 million, and officially became a “unicorn,” one of the rare privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more. Riley says it’s just the beginning. The executive, who lives in New Canaan, Conn. with his wife (Michelle) and four children, points to recent brand partnerships with Target and Nike, among others. Customers can now “Shazam” a TV ad or learn more about a store’s soundtrack. A recent campaign with Showtime even encouraged using the app on any $1, $5 or $20 bill to unlock exclusive content from the series Billions.’
While Riley continues to steer Shazam, he has been rumored in technology circles to potentially take over Yahoo, which has come on relative hard times amid downsizing the last few years. Riley has a long history with Yahoo, having sold it his start-up company in 1999, then joining the company as it skyrocketed from hundreds of employees to thousands. He would rise in the ranks and run Yahoo Europe, before returning to the U.S., moving to New Canaan four years ago and taking the helm at Shazam.
Now, as Yahoo is struggling in the ever-competitive technology industry, Riley is seen as someone who could turn it’s fortunes around.
In a Medium.com story, Eric Jackson listed five potential new leaders for Yahoo, writing this about Riley:
‘Rich spent 13 years at Yahoo. He sold his company to Yahoo when Tim Koogle was in charge and stayed through Terry Semel, Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, Tim Morse, Ross Levinsohn, and finally Marissa Mayer. He left in September 2012 and was named the CEO of unicorn Shazam a few months later. All those years of Yahoo mean he has (a) deep ties to the company, (b) strong contacts at the company and with the founders, and (c) strong ideas on what worked and what didn’t work at Yahoo over his tenure and seeing different types of leadership. Riley was extremely well-liked when he was there. He should be considered.’
Contacted by the Advertiser, Riley declined to comment.
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