Xumo CEO Colin Petrie-Norris is leaving the technology company he co-founded after more than a decade, the executive affirmed in a note to friends and colleagues on Wednesday.
At Xumo, Petrie-Norris oversaw the development of the company’s free, ad-supported streaming television service (FAST) and related connected TV technology, and helped facilitate the sale of Xumo to several companies at different points in its history, including Panasonic in the mid-2010s and Comcast in 2020.
Comcast integrated Xumo into its own traditional and streaming television products before separating Xumo into its own company, one that is now operated as a joint venture with peer telecom provider Charter Communications.
The Xumo joint venture has seen the development of a new line of streaming boxes and smart TV sets that offer highly-sought third party apps like Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video and YouTube along with dozens of FAST channels programmed and distributed by Xumo itself.
In his note to friends and colleagues, Petrie-Norris said the journey was not always easy, but the milestones and accomplishments were worth it. He remarked on a time when a “major TV brand” decided to implement a Xumo shortcut button on their remote, displacing a “major streaming superpower” in the process — something that occurred when Xumo had a team of no more than 40 people.
He also looked back on what he called “the survival years” when “the business was growing so fast that cash-flow management became an adrenaline sport.”
Petrie-Norris said he was particularly grateful for the team of Xumo employees who made everything happen, the ones who stuck by him during “the battles, the wins, the ups and downs,” including “the business partners who saw something valuable in this idea and took a leap of faith to work with us when we were very small and continue to be excited about the business now it’s getting a little bigger.”
Petrie-Norris will be succeeded by Jiro Egawa, a long-time Xumo executive who will serve as the company’s Senior Vice President of Platform Growth and Monetization, according to a source familiar with the changes. Egawa will report to Marcien Jenckes, the President of Xumo, and will oversee the Xumo Play streaming app and Xumo Enterprise business, the source said.
Egawa has served as Xumo’s Chief Operating Officer since September 2014, joining the company from Panasonic, where he worked as a leader on the company’s strategic alliance team.
