Spotify announced plans to lay off 6% of its workforce and take a related charge of up to nearly $50 million, adding to the massive layoffs in the technology sector in anticipation of a possible recession.
Spotify employs approximately 9,800 people, so the layoffs will affect approximately 600 people. According to its LinkedIn profile, the company has 5,400 employees in the United States and 1,900 in Sweden.
The changes, which will affect approximately 600 employees, are intended to benefit the company “control costs and speed up decision-making.” In a challenging economic environment, “efficiency takes on greater importance,” Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek said in a memo.
Ek stated that he hoped that “strong tailwinds” from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Spotify’s “broad global business,” would protect the company from ad spending slowdowns.
Along with the layoffs, Ek announced that Spotify would be restructured to elevate Gustav Söderström, the company’s chief R&D officer who also serves as CTO and CPO, and Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer, to co-presidents.
One-on-one conversations with affected employees will begin in the coming hours, according to Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO, in a note posted publicly on the company’s website.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheRegister and Axios.
