Spotify’s not going for Pulitzers anymore

Spotify has shifted its focus from in-depth narrative podcasts to high-margin shows that are straightforward to make, always on, and have broad appeal

The dust is still settling on Spotify’s latest round of layoffs. On Monday, Spotify announced it was cutting 17 percent of its workforce, or approximately 1,500 employees, as a means of making the company even more efficient. This round of layoffs dwarfs the past two this year, with the company cutting about 600 employees in January and another 200 employees (mostly from podcasting) in June. Details are still coming out, but it appears the cuts are impacting people across the company, from product to content to advertising.

“I realize that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance. We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025,” CEO Daniel Ek said in a letter to employees. “Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives.”

Such steep cuts are shocking when the economy is growing and the company is turning a profit. Unlike so many other layoff announcements, this one did not spend a whole lot of time dwelling on macroeconomic factors. Instead, it is an unambiguous attempt at appeasing investors. And in the short term, it is working — Spotify’s stock is up nearly 11 percent from where it was at market close on Friday.