Spotify CFO Steps Down Amongst Week Of Layoffs

Paul Vogel, the Chief Financial Officer of Spotify, has stepped down after a week in which the streaming giant has seen 1,500 job losses, laying off 17% of its workforce.

Vogel joined Spotify in 2016 and, in 2020, was promoted to the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Vogel will remain at Spotify until Sunday, 31 March 2024.

The announcement of Vogel’s departure was made on the company’s website. “Spotify has embarked on an evolution over the last two years to bring our spending more in line with market expectations while also funding the significant growth opportunities we continue to identify,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement.

“I’ve talked a lot with Paul about the need to balance these two objectives carefully. Over time, we’ve come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences.

“As a result, we’ve decided to part ways, but I am very appreciative of the steady hand Paul has provided in supporting the expansion of our business through a global pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty.”

In the meantime, Spotify’s Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, Ben Kung, will embrace additional responsibilities as the music streaming service realigns its financial leadership team.

The latest job cuts announced three days ago, arrived a month after Spotify revealed in its Q3 report that the streaming service now has 226 million paying users for its Premium Subscription base. That number was an impressive 16% increase year on year, signalling a growth of six million paying customers from the previous quarter.

In a memo sent out to Spotify staff, which is now on the Spotify website, Ek said that the decision to cull 1,500 jobs was due to “economic growth” that’s “slowed dramatically” and that “capital has become more expensive.”

Towards the end of the memo, Ek assured laid-off employees that they’d receive their severance pay, all accrued and unused annual leave days, healthcare coverage during the severance pay period, immigration support for the workers whose jobs are connected to their immigration status, and career support throughout Spotify, meaning that for two months, employees will be eligible for outplacement services.