Spotify is firing hundreds of workers or cutting off 2% of its crew

June 7, 2023: On Monday, Spotify revealed that it’s firing roughly 200 employees, or about 2% of its-person workforce, to change how the streaming company handles its association with “leading podcasters from across the globe.”

According to an SEC filing, Spotify’s international workforce was 8,359 in 2020, with 4,332 employees in the United States.

The cuts were announced by Sahar Elhabashi, vice president at Spotify, in a memo to employees. Those impacted will be provided “generous severance boxes,” Elhabashi said.

Elhabashi said the “real pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to help the developer community better.”

Spotify has spent heavily to expand its podcast unit in the last three years. According to an SEC filing, since 2020, Spotify includes spent 493 million euros ($526 million) on four different assets in the podcast space.

Spotify also entered high-profile sponsorship deals with prominent names like Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and the online personality Joe Rogan.

The company has resorted to aggressive expansion to supplement its earnings from music flowing with other revenue-generating forms such as podcasts, spending more than $1 billion on them and adding popular names like Joe Rogan to its roster.

“We are expanding our collaboration efforts with leading podcasters from across the world with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” Spotify said.

In January, the group planned to slash 6% of its staff and take a related amount of up to $50 million.