Roku has hired former Amazon executive Dan Jedda to serve as its new chief financial officer, starting later this year.
Jedda is set to replace Steve Louden, who announced last year that he will be departing the company.
Jedda worked as the chief financial officer and vice president of Amazon’s digital, advertising and corporate development finance sector from June 2005 to December 2020. At Amazon, Jedda helped oversee the growth of various Amazon products, including Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Music.
During the global coronavirus health pandemic, Jedda left Amazon to take a job as the chief financial officer of Stitch Fix, an Internet-based personal styling service.
“As our U.S. active accounts approach half of U.S. broadband households, we are thrilled to have Dan join our executive team,” Anthony Wood, Roku’s co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. ““As we recently shared, we are committed to a path that delivers positive adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) next year, and Roku will benefit from Dan’s relevant experience and proven leadership as we move through our next stage of growth.”
“I am excited to join one of the most interesting, innovative, and successful companies in the industry at a pivotal time,” Jedda said on Wednesday. “I look forward to working with Anthony and team to help continue driving growth, building Roku’s position as the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and focusing on profitability.”
Jedda’s resume also includes finance management roles at Toshiba, Honeywell and ADC Telecommunications.
Jedda joins Roku at a pivotal moment: The company is tied with Amazon’s Fire TV for market share in the domestic streaming television space, with two out of every five smart TVs or streaming dongles powered by Roku’s operating system, according to data reviewed by The Desk. In January, Roku revealed more than 70 million customers regularly use its smart TV system.
While the company continues to enjoy market dominance in the United States, Roku has only recently started to offer some of its streaming devices in other countries. Streamers have been slow to adopt Roku in places like Germany and Australia, where Amazon Fire TV and Android TV-powered gadgets have been available for years.
Recently, Roku announced it will develop and sell its own line of smart television sets, a move that the company says is intended to help Roku better understand the integration of hardware and software, and one that will lead to better products and innovation in the future.
Analysts say Roku’s own line of TV sets will also put it in direct competition with third party manufacturers who license the Roku operating system for their own TVs. Those partners have historically included TCL, Hisense and Element; all three of those companies now also offer TV sets powered by Google’s Android TV operating system.
Roku is also focused on growing its connected television advertising business, which is tied to its home screen menu and the free, ad-supported streaming service Roku Channel. To entice viewers to the Roku Channel, the company has inked exclusive licensing and production deals for content that lives within the service, including a parody biopic of musician Al Yankovich that debuted on Roku devices last November.
