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Tom Ryan (business executive)
American business executive From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tom Ryan is the co-founder of Pluto TV and CEO and President of Streaming at Paramount Skydance Corporation.[1][2] He oversees the company's global direct-to-consumer division,[2] which includes paid and free streaming through businesses such as Paramount+ and Pluto TV.[2]
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Education
Ryan has an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from INSEAD in France.[3][4][5]
Career
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Early years
Tom Ryan's entrepreneurial career began in 1996 when he co-founded Cductive, an early digital music retail company that Ryan later sold to EMusic in 1999,[3][4] that same year he became an advisor for EMusic. Following this, in 2002, he was a Mobile Music Consultant with Virgin Mobile USA.[6][5] From 2004-2007, Ryan was the Senior vice-president of Digital Strategy at EMI Music.[4][7][3] In 2007 he held the position of "Entrepreneur-in-Residence" of Bessemer Venture Partners until 2008. From 2008-2012, Ryan was CEO of the crowdsourced design community and e-commerce company, Threadless.[3][8]
Pluto TV
In 2013, Ryan co-founded Pluto TV,[9][6] making him one of the first to bring Free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services to the market.[2][1] It was launched in 2014. In 2019, he sold the company to Paramount (at the time ViacomCBS) for $340 million,[1][2] and stayed on as CEO.[10] By 2021, Pluto TV had over $1 billion in annual revenue.[11]
Paramount Global Streaming
In October 2020, Tom Ryan was named President and CEO of Streaming at Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS Streaming).[12] In 2024, under his leadership, the direct-to-consumer segment had its first profitable quarter since the launch of Paramount+ in March 2021.[13][14]
Board roles
Ryan is the current Chairman of the board of Struck Studio.[15] He has been a founding board member of Smule, a social music site, since 2008. Ryan has been a Venture Advisor on the board of Felix Capital since 2015[16] and Fund Advisor of SignalFire since 2017. He was previously on the board of Society6, which was acquired by Leaf Group in 2013[17] from 2010-2013 and Trunk Club[5] from 2011-2014. He was an angel investor in both Smule and Trunk Club.[9]
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Recognition
In 2021, he was recognized as the Fastest Growing Brand in America for Paramount.[18] In 2022, Ryan received the NATPE's inaugural "Award for Executive Leadership in Global Streaming".[19][20] And was also a Variety500 Honoree from Variety.[21] In 2023, Stream TV awarded Ryan "CEO of the Year" & awarded Pluto TV "Streaming Platform of the Year";[22][23] that same year Pluto TV received a Webby Award for the "People's Voice Winner" for Best Streaming Service.[24] In 2024, the NATAS revealed that Pluto TV would receive the Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards for Pioneering Development of Manifest-based Playout for FAST.[25] That same year he was named on both the LA500[2] and FAST30[26] lists.
Patent
Issued on February 9, 2016 on Methods and Systems for Generating and Providing Program Guides and Content.[27]
Personal life
Ryan lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and three children.[4]
References
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