Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Spotify Gets a New Biz Dev Head From 21st Century Fox

Spotify has hired a new dealmaker: The streaming music service has hired Jorge Espinel, who has spent the last four years working on digital strategy at News Corp and 21st Century Fox, as its new head of global business development.

Espinel fills a position left vacant for close to a year. Gerrit Meier had previously had a similar role at the company, but he left in October 2012 after a year-long stint.

At Spotify, Espinel will be in charge of signing up partners that can help the stream service expand from its current  base — 24 million monthly users, and six million paying subscribers. A deal with, say, a big telco or cable company might be nice.

Prior to Spotify, Espinel has been closely linked with veteran Internet exec Jon Miller. Espinel worked for Miller when Miller ran AOL, and then again at Fuse, Miller’s foray into venture capital with Ross Levinsohn.

After Miller became head of News Corp’s digital efforts, Espinel joined up with him again. Miller is now a partner at Advancit Capital.

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