According to a report by Bloomberg, Spotify, the Swedish music streaming firm, is planning to cut jobs across various teams. The company, which had 9,800 employees around the world as per its December quarter earnings report, will add a new round of job cuts after 38 employees were fired in October last year, from its podcast-producing subsidiaries. It is unclear at this time which divisions will be affected and how many jobs may be reduced.
Spotify has been facing criticism for its investments in podcast production and how these investments may not be leading to profit. In June, the company stated that it may take up to two years to see returns on its podcast production investments. Despite an increasing interest in audio-focused content, such as audiobooks and podcasts, among platforms, it remains a niche market and influencer marketing ventures have noted that creators are not yet fully embracing audio as a format.
This could be one of many factors preventing audio streaming platforms from realizing profits from podcast ventures. Spotify’s announcement also comes at a time when other major tech companies, such as Microsoft and Alphabet, have also announced plans to lay off employees in response to a slowdown in tech and ad spending due to rising inflation concerns.
