Spotify has announced plans to lay off approximately 200 workers as it adjusts how it handles partnerships with podcasters.
The cuts will impact roughly 2% of the company’s overall employee base.
“We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s head of podcast business, wrote in a blog post on Monday. "This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting... As a result, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people.”
Spotify has leaned heavily into the podcast business in the past few years, signing high-profile sponsorships with top-tier podcasters, including Joe Rogan and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and increasing the content library from 200,000 titles to more than 5 million. The company says the layoffs will not impact its commitment to original programming, but it does seem to be scaling back that strategy somewhat, combining the popular podcast networks Parcast and Gimlet Media into its Spotify Studios division.
Elhabashi notes podcast ad revenue “experienced high double-digit growth from 2021 to 2022.”
Employees who are being laid off will receive “generous severance packages, including extended Healthcare coverage and immediate access to outplacement support,” Elhabashi wrote.
