Spotify: The app we can’t do without, the platform with the most annoying ads, and the latest domino to fall with layoff announcements.
Yes, yet another tech giant has succumbed.
Unsurprising.
Spotify is the Next Tech Firm to Lay Off Its Workers as 600 People Will be Axed
On Monday (23 January), Spotify Technology confirmed that it would be shaving off about 6 per cent of its population.
The Swedish audio steaming leviathan has around 9,800 employees, meaning about 600 people will be retrenched.
Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, spoke on the matter with employees, and his speech has since been posted on Spotify’s website.
“In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth. And for this reason, today, we are reducing our employee base by around six per cent across the company,” he said.
With this layoff, the company will be undergoing structural reforms.
Alex Norström, the current chief freemium business officer, and Gustav Soderstrom, the current development officer, will shoulder more responsibility as the company’s co-presidents.
Also, their chief content and advertising business officer, Dawn Ostroff, will depart the company.
Because of Dawn, Spotify “drove significant innovations in the medium and became the leasing music and podcast service in many markets.” They “grew (their) podcast content by 40x” and were “able to innovate on the ads format itself and more than double the revenue of (their) advertising business to €1.5 billion.”
Severance Package
Like all layoffs, Spotify will provide a severance package to cushion the fall.
Apart from a five months severance pay, all affected employees will be paid their accrued and unused vacation.
Additionally, the company will cover healthcare for the employees during the five months severance period.
For employees whose immigration status is connected with their employment, Spotify’s human resources department and mobility team will work with the relevant individuals.
On career support, all employees will be eligible for outplacement services for two months.
By now, these layoffs shouldn’t come as a shocker. It’s just the inevitable fate of the post-COVID tech companies.
Featured Image: Spotify