by John Hugh DeMastri
Audio streaming platform Spotify is laying off 6% of its staff, becoming the latest in a series of tech firms to make major cuts, the company announced Monday.
The cuts come less than a week after Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet both laid off more than 10,000 employees each as Big Tech firms cut costs following pandemic-related spending sprees. Spotify had roughly 9,800 employees through September 2022, so the company will likely cut less than 600 staffers Monday, according to Reuters.
The layoffs come as a cost-saving measure after “the growth of Spotify’s [operational expenditures] outpaced our revenue growth by [two times]” in 2022, said chief executive officer Daniel Ek in a letter announcing the layoffs. “That would have been unsustainable long-term in any climate, but with a challenging macro environment, it would be even more difficult to close the gap.”
In addition to the cuts, Spotify is making moves to consolidate its C-suite, with chief research and development officer Gustav Söderström being named chief product officer — taking control of most of the company’s engineering — while head of freemium business Alex Norström was named chief business officer, according to Spotify. The two will also be named co-presidents and will help Ek with daily operations at the streaming giant, freeing him to spend “more time working on the future of Spotify,” according to Ek.
Chief content officer Dawn Ostroff opted to leave the company as part of these moves, according to Spotify. Ostroff was partly responsible for Spotify’s massive growth in the streaming service’s podcast library, securing major deals with influencers like Michelle Obama and Kim Kardashian, famously securing a $100 million deal to bring the Joe Rogan Experience exclusively to Spotify, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company will offer five months of severance and healthcare, two months of career support, and immigration support to all laid off employees.
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John Hugh DeMastri is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Spotify” by Jon Åslund. CC BY 2.0.
