Music streaming giant Spotify announced on Monday that it would reduce the number of its employees by around 17 per cent in a bid to cut costs amid "dramatically" slower economic growth. Around 1,500 people will leave the company, the company stated. Amid this, an engineer who was laid off by the company shared his heartbreaking story on X, formerly Twitter. Freddie Carthy had joined the music streaming giant after Elon Musk took over Twitter and conducted mass layoffs. Now, he finds himself unemployed again just before the holiday season.
"Shocked to find out I've been impacted by the Spotify layoffs.. Don't even know what to feel right now. 1 year ago, Twitter shit the bed and I quit, right before the holidays. 1 year later, I find myself unemployed before the holidays yet again...," he wrote on the microblogging platform.
Since being shared, his post has amassed a lot of reaction from social media users.
"Man I'm sorry. This is heavy, especially right before the holidays. I hope you'll find something soon," said a user.
"Same. 7 months pregnant and laid off before the holidays, without my guaranteed maternity leave. Devastated," commented a person.
Another added, "Freddie I am SO sorry. You're such an amazing human and engineer. Going to do my best to help however I can!"
"Hopefully something comes your way, and hopefully that something is you taking your skills and creating something you have ownership in, instead of the corporate whims. Best of luck to you," said a fourth person.
"You will find a better job. The market is much better than a year ago," commented a user.
Meanwhile, the company was the latest in a series of layoffs announced in the tech industry cutting tens of thousands of jobs following a boom during Covid pandemic lockdowns. "I realise that for many, a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and our performance," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote in a letter to employees, which was seen by AFP. He said that in 2020 and 2021, the Swedish company "took advantage of the opportunity presented by lower-cost capital and invested significantly in team expansion, content enhancement, marketing and new verticals."
"However, we now find ourselves in a very different environment," noting that "economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive." "Despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big," he added
