Spotify Restructures, Lays Off 6% Of Force

• Daniel Ek, Founder/CEO of Sweden-based streaming giant Spotify announced extensive organizational restructuring that includes the layoff of 6% of its 9,800 employees, the appointment of Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström as co-Presidents, and the departure of Chief Content & Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff (pictured, below, right).

Ek (left) broke all this the news in a lengthy blog post, noting, “Over the last few months we’ve made a considerable effort to rein in costs, but it simply hasn’t been enough. To start, we are fundamentally changing how we operate at the top. To do this, I will be centralizing the majority of our engineering and product work under Gustav Söderström as Chief Product Officer and the business areas under Alex Norström as Chief Business Officer. I’m happy to say that Gustav and Alex, who have been with Spotify for a long time and have done great work, will be leading these teams as co-Presidents, effectively helping me run the company day-to-day.”

Ek also addressed Ostroff’s departure “as part of a broader reorganization,” commenting that “Dawn has made a tremendous mark not only on Spotify, but on the audio industry overall. Because of her efforts, Spotify grew our podcast content by 40 times, drove significant innovation in the medium and became the leading music and podcast service in many markets. These investments in audio offered new opportunities for music and podcast creators and also drove new interest in the potential of Spotify’s audio advertising. We are enormously grateful for the pivotal role she has played and wish her much success. In the near term, Dawn will assume the role of senior advisor to help facilitate this transition.” Ek added that Norström “will take on the responsibility for the content, advertising and licensing work going forward.”

Ek added, “Personally, these changes will allow me to get back to the part where I do my best work — spending more time working on the future of Spotify — and I can’t wait to share more about all the things we have coming.”