This despite hitting profit high note – and right on time for Christmas
Spotify has announced its third and largest round of layoffs this year, cutting 17 percent of employees despite recently posting its first profitable quarter in more than 12 months.
CEO Daniel Ek made the announcement in a letter to staff today. As mentioned, Q3 2023 was Spotify’s first profitable quarter in a while, with the company attributing its €65 million ($70 million) net income largely to reduced operating expenses following layoffs in January and June, and a subscription price hike in July.
January’s layoffs affected teams across the company, while June’s round eliminated 200 jobs from the podcasting team.
“I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance,” Ek said in today’s letter to staff. Around 1,500 will be laid off based on Spotify’s reported Q3 headcount of 9,241 people.
It’s unclear from where in the company staff will be culled – we asked, but Spotify only confirmed that approximately 1,500 jobs were being cut “across markets and functions.
