Spotify to cut 6% of workforce as latest casualty of tech layoffs
Christopher Hutton
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The music streaming giant Spotify is laying off 6% of its workers in an effort to save cash and prepare for a recession, the latest in widespread cutbacks in the tech industry.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced on Monday that the company was cutting back on staff as part of a larger effort to reorganize internally and cut costs. The cuts will account for about 600 jobs.
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“Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us,” Ek wrote in a memo sent to staff. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”
The layoffs were accompanied by multiple changes to the company’s internal structure. These included placing all engineering efforts under Chief Research & Development Officer Gustav Soderstrom and all business efforts under the newly appointed Chief Business Officer Alex Bodman.
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Ek also noted that Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff is leaving the company. Ostroff was the executive who oversaw the company’s decision to bring Joe Rogan and Michelle Obama onto the platform for exclusive contracts.
Spotify’s layoffs are the latest due to companies adjusting to declining revenue over the last two quarters. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all laid off tens of thousands of workers over the last few weeks.