Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced Monday that the company plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce, or roughly 600 employees. The cuts are a result of economic challenges related to the pandemic, Ek said.
The Swedish media streaming giant is one of the largest providers of its kind. Founded in 2006 by Ek and Martin Lorentzon, the company has grown immensely over the years, with over 456 million monthly active listeners.
Ek posted an update on the Spotify blog Monday morning stating the changes that would be taking place within the company.
“In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth. And for this reason, today, we are reducing our employee base by about 6% across the company,” Ek said in the memo. “I take full accountability for the moves that got us here today.”
Ek said Spotify is committed to ensuring that all impacted employees are treated fairly on their departure. The company will give severance pay “with the average employee receiving approximately five months of severance,” as well as continued health care coverage during that time. Additionally, all unused paid time off will be paid out and immigration support will be provided to “employees whose immigration status is connected with their employment.” Lastly, “all employees will be eligible for outplacement services for two months.”
The cuts come after other Big Tech companies announced their own layoffs last week. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, plans to terminate 12,000 employees, while Microsoft revealed it is cutting 10,000 workers.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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