Spotify has joined a slew of other tech behemoths in layoffs.
According to CEO Daniel Ek’s announcement on Monday, impacted employees (roughly 6% across the company) will be notified Monday morning.
Spotify’s restructuring is a “effort to drive more efficiency, control costs, and accelerate decision-making,” Ek said, adding that he accepts “full accountability for the moves that got us here today.”
“In retrospect, I was overly ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth,” Ek admitted.
While many may see the layoffs as a departure from Spotify’s culture and “historic focus on growth,” Ek believes “this decision is right” as the company and business evolve.
“While we have made significant progress in improving speed in recent years, we have not focused as much on improving efficiency,” Ek explained. “In a difficult economic environment, efficiency becomes even more important.”
Alphabet Inc.’s stock (SPOT)
After Ek’s announcement, Spotify’s Alphabet stock (SPOT) rose more than 2% in early trading Monday.
Tracking tech layoffs: Why are companies like Amazon and Meta laying off workers in 2022?
Spotify’s layoffs join those of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others.
According to Layoffs, more than 200,000 tech industry workers have been laid off since the beginning of 2022, excluding Spotify’s staff cuts.
fyi.
Amazon began laying off thousands of employees earlier this week. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced on January 4 that the company planned to lay off more than 18,000 workers “between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today.”
New layoff notices for approximately 8,000 employees were issued last week, just months after an initial round of 10,000 job cuts.
Microsoft also announced 10,000 job cuts last week, accounting for nearly 5% of its workforce. In November, Facebook parent Meta announced 11,000 job cuts, or 13% of its workforce.
