Popular audio streaming giant Spotify laid off 6 percent of its workforce in January. In the news, more than two hundred employees of the company’s podcasting unit will be laid off. The new layoffs will reduce the company’s global workforce by another 2 percent. News CNN Business.
Sahar Elhabashi, head of podcast business, blamed the layoffs on changes in Spotify’s podcast unit. In its latest annual report, Spotify said it employed an average of 8,359 full-time employees on a salaried basis in 2022.
Earlier in the year, the company laid off 600 people from its overall workforce. Spotify said the move was aimed at increasing efficiency, controlling costs and working towards faster decision-making.
Spotify announced that Percast and Gimlet Podcast Studios will be discontinued under Spotify; Spotify Studios will be led by Julie McNamara, Head of Global Podcast Studios at Spotify.
Notably, the streaming platform has more than 500,000 podcast shows, which have been listened to by more than 100 million people.