Spotify, Third Layoff This Year... Additional 1,500 Employees Cut

Recipients Receive Severance Pay, Health Insurance Benefits, and Vacation Allowances

The music streaming platform 'Spotify' is set to carry out its third round of layoffs this year. It will reduce its workforce by approximately 1,500 employees, accounting for 17% of its staff.

According to foreign media including The New York Times on the 4th (local time), Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, announced this layoff plan in a letter sent to employees on the same day.

In the letter, he stated that despite Spotify's efforts to cut costs, the company is still spending a large amount of money, and is facing management difficulties due to the economic slowdown and increased financing costs caused by interest rate hikes. CEO Ek emphasized that "trimming the fat is not an option but a necessity."

The laid-off employees will receive severance pay equivalent to about five months' salary, along with health insurance benefits and vacation allowances.

This is the third round of layoffs this year alone. Spotify announced reductions of 600 employees in January and 200 employees in June.

Spotify experienced rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly doubling its workforce in three years, currently estimated at around 8,800 employees. However, this year, the company has shifted its focus from growth to profitability and has aggressively pursued cost-cutting measures.

Spotify invested $1 billion (approximately 1.3 trillion KRW) in podcasts, an internet broadcasting medium, to acquire new users but failed to achieve the desired results. The company has since reduced the scale of its investments.

Although the company recorded a loss of $530 million (approximately 691.6 billion KRW) through September this year, it turned a profit in the third quarter. New subscribers have also increased across all regions.

Headquartered in Sweden, Spotify is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It has 610 million monthly listeners, making it the largest in the world.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.