Spotify cuts 17% of total staff to focus on profits

Spotify has announced that the music streaming giant is laying off over 17% of its total workforce. This workforce cut translates to about 1,500 Spotify employees. It is facing several challenges, including increased competition from Apple Music and Amazon Music, as well as rising costs. Spotify is making these changes because it needs to use its resources more wisely. The company wants to be more effective, and it realized that having more people doesn’t always mean it’s more effective.

Spotify is cutting the total workforce by 17%

In a recent blog post, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that the company will reduce its workforce by approximately 17%. This decision comes in response to the current economic climate. Ek acknowledged that this decision will impact many talented and hardworking individuals, but he emphasized that it is necessary to ensure Spotify’s long-term success.

“I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance. We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025. Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives. While I am convinced this is the right action for our company, I also understand it will be incredibly painful for our team,” CEO Daniel Ek noted in a press release.

Spotify will continue to help the laid-offs for a short while

Spotify will give them money based on how long they worked there, as well as pay for any unused vacation time. The company will also continue to cover their healthcare for a while. And help them with any immigration issues related to their job. Additionally, Spotify will provide them with services to help them find new jobs.

In a similar instance in June 2023, Spotify let go of 200 people from its podcast unit. This was part of a plan to make the podcast division more efficient and focus on music streaming. Spotify also said that this will help it invest in new podcasting projects.