Eddy Cue & Robert Kondrk
Senior VP of Internet Software Services;
VP of iTunes
Apple, Inc.
Twitter: @Cue
POWER MOVE: Expansion to 68 new territories — and finally landing AC/DC and Kid Rock tracks — should help grow revenue of $7.9 billion.
THE RUNDOWN: Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk run the world’s largest entertainment store, iTunes, but their business actually encompasses much more than just music downloads.
A 24-year Apple veteran who now reports to CEO Tim Cook, Cue negotiated content deals for iTunes with Steve Jobs and, according to sources, continues to be involved with the biggest music deals today.”
Cue oversees the iTunes store, App Store, iBookstore and iCloud services — including iTunes Match — as well as Maps, Siri and iAd, Apple’s online advertising business.
Kondrk, promoted to VP of iTunes last year, is considered Cue’s “first lieutenant,” with the responsibility to grow iTunes’ business every year, according to a company insider.
Though iTunes isn’t adverse to throwing its weight around when needed, one major-label executive complimented Cue and Kondrk for allowing the company’s staffers to retain their love of music while many competitors are driven solely by business metrics. “The folks at iTunes enjoy listening to music and will often get behind something just because they love an artist,” the executive says.
The recipient of a makeover late last year, iTunes is so big that it earns more than any other single music company, generating revenue of approximately $7.9 billion in 2012. Now operating in 119 countries after expanding to 68 new territories last year including Russia, South Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore, its music catalog made some notable additions, with AC/DC and Kid Rock finally joining the store, and Sony Music Entertainment selling Japanese artists more than eight years after the store first launched in the country.