Tech

Days after laying off 17% of its staff, Spotify says its CFO is on his way out too

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Bryan Bedder via Getty Images
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Spotify announced the imminent departure of its CFO Paul Vogel on Thursday, just days after it laid off 17% of its staff.

The company said in a statement that Vogel is slated to leave Spotify on March 31, 2024. He was appointed CFO in January 2020.

"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," CEO Daniel Ek said in the 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," Ek continued.

Ben Kung, who is now Spotify's vice-president of financial planning and analysis, will assume expanded responsibilities during this period of transition, per the statement. It added that the company has embarked on an external search for Vogel's replacement.

It has been a tumultuous week for the music-streaming giant. Spotify said in a blog post on Monday that it was laying about 17% of its workforce.

Ek said in the blog post that the decision to lay off staff was made because of a difficult economic environment.

"Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive. Spotify is not an exception to these realities," Ek wrote.

"Today, we still have too many people dedicated to supporting work and even doing work around the work rather than contributing to opportunities with real impact," Ek said, adding that the company needed to become "relentlessly resourceful."

The job cuts sent Spotify shares sharply higher, and Vogel opted to sell stock worth almost $9.4 million on Tuesday, per an SEC filing. The share price has risen almost 140% this year, leaving the company worth $38 billion.

Monday's announcement marks the third time Spotify has slashed jobs this year. In January, it laid off about 600 employees and axed another 200 in June.

Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside normal working hours.

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Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
Kwan Wei Kevin Tan
Kevin was a reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau. He reported primarily on the ins and outs of the business world, whether it be breaking news, covering CEO moves, tracking quarterly earnings, or writing explainers.He also covered careers and workplace issues, and has written about career transitions, the FIRE lifestyle, the college internship arms race, and the job hunt struggles faced by computer science majors.BackgroundKevin joined Business Insider's Singapore bureau in 2023. Before that, he was a civil servant at Singapore's Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. He was appointed to the Singapore government's Public Service Leadership Programme, a talent development programme that develops capable and talented individuals for key leadership positions in the public service.Kevin’s journalism career began in college, where he first worked as a researcher for Channel NewsAsia and The Economist, and later as an intern reporter at Bloomberg News. In 2017, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust awarded him the Leading Change Journalism Bursary. His stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Fortune, The Japan Times, and The Edge Singapore.Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore, where he was an NUS Merit Scholar. He was also the recipient of the PwC Whole Leadership Award, the NTUC Income Prize, the CFA Singapore Prize, and the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Prize.