Swedish music streaming giant Spotify says it will cut 6% of its roughly 10,000 employees, citing the need to improve efficiency.
“In retrospect, I was too ambitious to invest ahead of our sales growth,” CEO Daniel Ek wrote on the company blog.
Despite its popularity in the online music market, Spotify has never posted a net profit.
It follows last week’s reports of losses from Microsoft and Alphabet.
Alphabet, which owns Google, said it would cut 12,000 jobs, while Microsoft said up to 11,000 employees would lose their jobs.
“I take full responsibility for the steps that have brought us here today,” added Mr. Ek.
The company also said its chief content and advertising business officer, Dawn Ostroff, would step down as part of a broader restructuring.
Spotify, which employed around 9,800 full-time staff last year, said it expects at least €35m (£30m) in severance payments.
The Swedish company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has invested heavily since its inception to drive growth through expansion into new markets and in later years exclusive content such as podcasts.
The company announced in October that it would slow down hiring for the rest of the year and into 2023.
Spotify’s announcement comes at a time when tech companies are facing a downturn after two years of pandemic-driven growth in which they’ve been hiring aggressively.
Hundreds, including some of the biggest names in the industry, have announced layoffs in recent weeks.
- What is behind the job cuts at the big tech companies?
- Are tech job cuts a warning for the broader economy?
Earlier this year, Amazon said it would cut more than 18,000 jobs due to “the uncertain economy” and rapid hiring during the pandemic.
In November, Meta announced it would cut 13% of its workforce, totaling 11,000 employees.
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