Executive Action, Kobalt-Style

• Kobalt Music has acquired the talents of Rian Liebenberg as Kobalt’s next Chief Technology Officer. Current CTO, Richard Thompson, has decided to step down and will continue to advise as Emeritus CTO.

Liebenberg previously served in multiple executive positions at Schibsted ASA and Schibsted Media Group, including Chief Platform Officer and CTO. Prior to Schibsted, he helped set up Google’s European engineering capability and founded 3D mapping and location services startup, Recce.

In welcoming Liebenberg aboard,Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt Founder and CEO, remarked, “Kobalt’s industry leadership is attached to our continued innovation in music and technology development to support musicians across the globe. Therefore, I’m very happy to welcome Rian to Kobalt who will help continue our technology leadership, scale our technology team, products and services globally. Rian’s unique and successful career in building and scaling technology teams is the exact combination of technology, creative and leadership DNA that Kobalt needs in this next phase of exponential growth. I’m confident that Rian’s experience and leadership will play a key role in Kobalt’s future growth.”

And speaking of Thompson, Ahdritz said, “Richard has been a part of the Kobalt team since day one. Through his leadership, his team has built the industry leading global platform responsible for taking the music industry into the digital age. This very complex innovation was executed brilliantly and for that, I’m very appreciative. I’m equally thankful he will continue to advise me and the management team going forward, as we embark on a new, exciting growth phase of the company.”