Spotify is the latest company joining in on worldwide tech layoffs
A cloud of gloom has descended over the tech industry with prominent multinationals includingGoogle, Microsoft, andAmazon laying offsignificant chunks of their workforce almost simultaneously. Job boards are full of posts from the laid off seeking new work, but the deluge will get worse as audio streaming giant Spotify is now announcing “organizational changes," leaving around 600 of its staff out of a position.
Just like many of its cohorts, Spotify had begun to hedge payroll last year with a 25% hiring slowdown in June as central banks battled rocketing inflation by hiking interest rates. That clipping has quickened in lockstep with the rest of tech as the Swedish company, which had 9,808 employees at the end of October. In anote to employeesannouncing a 6% reduction of staff, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek explained operating expenses had grown twice as fast as revenue in 2022. That kind of growth, Ek said, was unsustainable. The executive specified that all departing employees will receive about five months of severance pay on average, pay for unused vacation days, and healthcare for the severance period. These staffers are also eligible for up to two months of outplacement support and immigration help, if required.
The announcement also mentions a few changes to the upper management, including the departure of chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff, an executive attributed to the stellar 40x growth in Spotify’s podcast content. Her parting ways with the company isn’t really a surprise, considering Spotify said it would axe 11 of its original podcasts back in October. Some of those podcasts like “Horoscope Today” will be shut down later this year. Spotify’s former freemium business officer Alex Norström, now acting as co-president and the company’s new chief business officer, is replacing Ostroff.
The layoff notice didn’t signal any other major changes for Spotify listeners in the immediate future.
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