LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) and PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC) Appoint 25-Year Finance Executive Craig Christensen as Interim CFO of Each Company to Drive Financial Excellence, Execute M&A Strategy and Scale B2B and AI Growth
Rhea-AI Summary
LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) and PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC) named Craig Christensen as Interim CFO of each company effective April 28, 2026. Christensen brings 25 years of finance experience, having supported 20 M&A transactions and a $122M public equity offering. He will focus on financial execution, M&A strategy, and scaling B2B and AI initiatives.
Positive
- Appointed experienced finance leader with 25 years of experience
- Christensen supported 20 M&A transactions
- Christensen supported a $122M public equity offering
- Mandate to scale B2B and AI initiatives and execute M&A strategy
Negative
- Reliance on a largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of revenue
- Going concern risks disclosed for PodcastOne and LiveOne
- Closing conditions for announced convertible debentures remain uncertain
News Market Reaction – LVO
In the Apr 28 session, LVO declined 10.27%, reflecting a significant negative market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +4.8% during that session. Argus tracked a trough of -3.8% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 4 alerts that day, indicating moderate trading interest and price volatility.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22 | Liability reduction | Positive | +1.4% | Eliminated >$15M short-term liabilities and expanded stock conversion program. |
| Apr 21 | Brand milestone | Positive | +2.7% | Dr. Gundry Podcast reached 400 episodes, reinforcing PodcastOne engagement. |
| Apr 10 | Sports partnership | Positive | -1.3% | Exclusive deal to stream 60+ TBL events across 200+ countries. |
| Mar 26 | Streaming deal | Positive | -4.7% | TBL partnership announcement emphasizing 200M+ reach and 5B+ engagements. |
| Mar 24 | B2B distribution | Positive | -12.5% | LG Electronics partnership adding ~60M smart TVs to distribution footprint. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Recent strategic and partnership announcements often saw muted or negative next-day moves, even when operationally positive, with only balance-sheet and brand-milestone news posting modest gains.
Over the past months, LiveOne highlighted balance-sheet cleanup, partnerships, and distribution expansion. On Apr 22, it eliminated over $15M in short-term liabilities with a +1.42% reaction. Content and distribution wins, such as the LG deal on Mar 24, sometimes saw negative follow-through (down 12.48%). The current CFO appointment and AI/B2B focus fit into this broader push to strengthen finances and scale distribution-led growth.
Key Terms
m&a financial
public equity offering financial
forward-looking statements regulatory
form 10-k regulatory
form 10-q regulatory
u.s. securities and exchange commission regulatory
safe-harbor provisions regulatory
convertible debentures financial
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
- Christensen is a seasoned CFO and finance executive with 25 years of experience leading financial strategy and operational excellence.
- Has held senior roles at global organizations, where he built and led high-performance finance teams, supported 20 M&A transactions, including buy-side deals and exits, supported a
$122M public equity offering, and the execution of corporate strategy.
LOS ANGELES, April 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO), a leading music, entertainment, and technology platform, and PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC), a leading publisher and podcast sales network, today jointly announced the appointment of Craig Christensen, CPA, as Interim Chief Financial Officer of each company.
“Craig is a proven operator with deep capital markets and M&A experience,” said Robert Ellin, Chairman and CEO of LiveOne and Executive Chairman of PodcastOne. “As we scale each company’s acquisition pipeline and expand their B2B and AI initiatives, his leadership will be critical to executing our next phase of growth.”
About LiveOne
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO) is an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform focused on delivering premium experiences and content worldwide through memberships and live and virtual events. LiveOne's subsidiaries include Slacker, PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC), PPVOne, Custom Personalization Solutions, LiveXLive and DayOne Music Publishing. LiveOne, a dedicated over-the-top application powered by Slacker, is available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Spotify, Samsung, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and through STIRR's OTT applications. For more information, visit liveone.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X at @liveone. For more investor information, please visit ir.liveone.com.
About PodcastOne
PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC) is a leading podcast platform that provides creators and advertisers with a comprehensive 360-degree solution in sales, marketing, public relations, production, and distribution. PodcastOne has surpassed 3.9 billion total downloads with a community of 200 top podcasters, including Adam Carolla, Kaitlyn Bristowe, Jordan Harbinger, LadyGang, Gals on the Go, A&E's Cold Case Files, and Varnamtown. PodcastOne has built a distribution network reaching over 1 billion monthly impressions across all channels, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. PodcastOne is also the parent company of PodcastOne Pro which offers fully customizable production packages for brands, professionals, or hobbyists. For more information, visit www.podcastone.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X at @podcastone.
LiveOne Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements,” which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as “may,” “might,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would,” “should,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “could,” “believe,” “seek,” “continue,” “contemplate,” “predict,” “potential,” “target” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: LiveOne’s reliance on its largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; LiveOne’s ability to consummate any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, special dividend, merger, distribution or transaction, the timing of the consummation of any such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to the consummation of any such event would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the consummation of any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, merger, special dividend, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance stockholder value; LiveOne’s ability to continue as a going concern; LiveOne’s ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its users and paid members; LiveOne identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; LiveOne’s ability to implement its announced digital asset treasury strategy and/or purchase digital assets from time to time pursuant to such strategy, including for the maximum announced amount, and other risks related to such strategy; LiveOne’s intent to repurchase shares of its and/or PodcastOne’s common stock from time to time under LiveOne’s announced stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; LiveOne’s ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other debt covenants; LiveOne successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management’s relationships with industry stakeholders; LiveOne’s ability to repay its indebtedness when due; LiveOne’s ability to satisfy the conditions for closing on its announced additional convertible debentures financing; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings and/or LiveOne’s ability to pay any amounts due in connection with any such legal proceedings; significant legal, commercial, regulatory and technical uncertainty and risks related to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets; regulatory developments related to digital assets and digital asset markets; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of LiveOne’s subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in LiveOne’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 15, 2025, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 13, 2025, and in LiveOne’s other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and LiveOne disclaims any obligation to update these statements, except as may be required by law. LiveOne intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
PodcastOne Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements,” which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as “may,” “might,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would,” “should,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “continue,” “target” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: LiveOne’s reliance on its largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; LiveOne’s and PodcastOne’s ability to consummate any proposed financing, acquisition, merger, distribution or other transaction, the timing of the consummation of any such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to the consummation of any such event would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the consummation of any proposed financing, acquisition, merger, special dividend, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance shareholder value; PodcastOne’s ability to continue as a going concern; PodcastOne’s ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its listeners; PodcastOne identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; LiveOne’s intent to repurchase shares of its and/or PodcastOne’s common stock from time to time under LiveOne’s stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; LiveOne’s ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other covenants; PodcastOne successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management’s relationships with industry stakeholders; LiveOne’s ability to repay its indebtedness when due; LiveOne’s ability to satisfy the conditions for closing on its announced additional convertible debentures financing; LiveOne’s ability to implement its digital assets treasury strategy and/or purchase digital assets from time to time pursuant to such strategy, including for up to the maximum announced amount, and other risks related to such strategy; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings and/or PodcastOne’s and/or LiveOne’s ability to pay any amounts due in connection with any such legal proceedings; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of PodcastOne, LiveOne and/or LiveOne’s other subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in PodcastOne’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 2, 2025, PodcastOne’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 13, 2026, and in PodcastOne’s other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and PodcastOne disclaims any obligation to update these statements, except as may be required by law. PodcastOne intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
LiveOne Press Contact:
press@liveone.com
Follow LiveOne on social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X at @liveone.
PodcastOne Press Contact:
Paul Manley
pmanley@podcastone.com
Follow PodcastOne on social media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X at @podcastone.
