Spotify to slow hiring by 25% amid economic uncertainty, shares rise 7.1%

Spotify Technology SA Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek informed the staff via email on Wednesday that the audio streaming company would reduce its hiring by 25%, according to a source familiar with the contents of the email.
 

Ek said Spotify would continue hiring, though it would slow the pace "and be a bit more prudent" of over the next few quarters.

The world’s largest on-demand audio service has been on a hiring spree for years, adding more than 2,000 employees between 2019 and 2021 for a total of 6,617 at the end of last year.
 

Shares hit a session high shortly after Reuters and other media reported the news and were last up 7.1%.
 

Spotify Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said the company was watching the uncertainty in the global economy during an investor conference earlier this month. Although it had yet to see a material impact on business, he said, "We are keeping a close eye on the situation and evaluating our headcount growth in the near term."
 

Earlier this month, Spotify offered investors an upbeat assessment of its business, predicting that its investments in podcasting and audiobooks would fuel growth over the next decade.
 

It joins a number of companies that have slowed hiring or announced layoffs in response to rising inflation and fallout from the Ukraine crisis.