Spotify to layoff 6% of employees as ads officer exits

Spotify is laying off 6% of its workforce.

CEO Daniel Ek announced the cuts, stating the company had to become more efficient as short-term operating expenses have outpaced revenue growth at the Swedish streaming company by more than two times.

“Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us,” said Ek. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”

Amid the layoffs, Ek has announced a reshuffle of the executive team that has led to the appointments of head of freemium business Alex Norström and research and development officer Gustav Söderström as co-presidents.

In response to the changes, Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising officer, has resigned.

Under Ostroff, Spotify grew its podcast content by 40x and more than doubled its advertising revenue to €1.5bn. She will assume the role of senior advisor during a transitional period, where her role will subsequently be taken up by Norström.