Spotify, the audio streaming and media services provider, has announced that it is going to lay off 2% of its workforce, or approximately 200 employees, in order to optimize its podcast business for the next phase of its development. The layoffs will mostly affect the podcast division of the company, with Gimlet Media and Parcast, two of the company's studios, being merged into Spotify Studios, while The Ringer, a third studio, will continue to operate independently. The cuts will also affect finance and talent acquisition teams.
Sahar Elhabashi, the vice president and head of podcast business, wrote in a blog post that the layoffs would help Spotify become the "optimal organization" for podcasts' next phase of growth. Elhabashi added that the company would accelerate its next chapter for podcasts on Spotify with strong discovery and audience growth for creators, thriving monetization, and high-margin business for Spotify.
Liliana Kim will lead the content for the restructured Spotify Studios, while Liz Gateley will head up development. Julie McNamara will continue to oversee the organization of the studios, and The Ringer's managing director, Bill Simmons, will remain in his position as head of podcast innovation and monetization.
While there were speculations internally about potential layoffs, the anonymous workplace social media network Blind was circulating with a post stating that a reorganization was planned for the podcast studios. The studios had yet to receive annual budgets, increasing anxiety around positions.
Since its acquisition of Gimlet and Parcast in 2019 and The Ringer in 2020, Spotify has spent over $1 billion to become a dominant player in the podcast sector. According to Elhabashi, there are now 100 million podcast listeners on Spotify, representing a growth of 10%, and that consumption has grown by over 1,400%. Despite these figures and growth, Spotify has undergone significant reorganizations and strategy shifts over the past two years, as big-name talent have not re-signed their exclusive deals, and top executives have stepped down during layoffs. As a result, Spotify wants to focus on offering its podcast programming widely across various platforms rather than keeping shows exclusive to Spotify.