Having German roots helped him to win confidence, and Mr Glaenzer became chairman of Last.fm in 2004, aged 43, basing himself in the office to keep the twentysomething founders Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones focused. They were "quite inexperienced when it came to business", managing the money, and gradually bringing Last.fm into the arms of Index Ventures, which put cash into Skype in 2006.

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Mr Glaenzer wanted to raise another £10 million and carry on, but was outvoted. "CBS just wanted to carry on doing what they were doing, and they came up with a great price," he says. "I'm not saying News Corporation [parent company of The Times] approached us, but if they did, they would want to make us a part of MySpace - CBS didn't have a big digital business." With CBS in charge, it is time for the money man to get out because the broadcaster can provide the commercial expertise now.