In an effort to minimize its costs, the well-known Swedish company Spotify with its eponymous audio streaming service, will likely make some difficult decisions and lay off employees. At least that's what various media outlets, including Bloomberg, are reporting.
The layoffs at the company, which could be announced this week, follow the dismissal of 38 employees from Spotify's Gimlet Media and Parcast podcast studios in October.
See also: Alphabet: Google's parent company announces 12,000 layoffs
Spotify had a team of nearly 10,000 dedicated employeesThe company reported a net loss of 166 million euros ($181 million) in the third quarter that ended in September.
In its most recent filing, Spotify said the loss was largely due to increased personnel-related expenses following the expansion of its global ad. It was also due to investments and acquisitions, as well as higher advertising expenses and currency fluctuations.
“Many of our new products and platform enhancements require significant investment and involve significant time and risk to develop and launch,” the company said in its third-quarter filing.
“Some of these products may not be well received or may take a long time to be adopted by users.“.
See also: Sophos: Another company announcing layoffs
Spotify operates in a total of 183 countries and territories and had 456 million users monthly the end of September.
The layoffs likely to be announced soon at Spotify are not the first to be announced in the tech industry. In recent months, major companies such as Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet have all cut thousands of jobs after sharply increasing hiring during the Covid pandemic. The layoffs now come amid growing concerns about a global economic recession.
According to employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas , companies in the U.S. laid off 363,824 employees in 2022, but the technology sector saw the most layoffs. A total of 97,171 jobs were lost in the technology sector last year (a 649% increase from 2021).
Last week, Microsoft announced that it was laying off 10,000 of its 221,000 employees to adapt to changing macroeconomic conditions and reduce costs.
See also: Technology companies: Layoffs of thousands of employees
Earlier, Amazon said it was laying off more than 18,000 workers, amid concerns about the US economy.
Twitter 's full-time staff has reportedly been reduced to around 1,300 active employees, down from around 7,500 positions before the acquisition by Elon Musk
In November last year, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the layoff of 11,000 employees , or 13% of the total workforce.
Laying off employees is never an easy decision, but sometimes it is necessary for a business to survive in difficult times.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
