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Spotify to Reduce Staff by 17% in 2nd Layoff this Year

FILE PHOTO: Earphones are seen on top of a smart phone with a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Earphones are seen on top of a smart phone with a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
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Spotify to Reduce Staff by 17% in 2nd Layoff this Year

FILE PHOTO: Earphones are seen on top of a smart phone with a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Earphones are seen on top of a smart phone with a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

Spotify will reduce its total headcount by around 17% across the company, it said in an email on Monday, after laying off 6% of this staff in January citing higher costs.
In the latest third quarter, the company swung to a profit aided by price hikes in its streaming services and growth in subscribers in all regions, and forecast that its number of monthly listeners would reach 601 million in the holiday quarter.
CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters at that time the company was still focusing on efficiencies to get more out of each dollar.
On Monday, he said a reduction of this size will feel surprisingly large given the recent positive earnings report and its performance.
"We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025," CEO Daniel Ek said in a mail to employees.
"Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives."

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Future of Cinema Clouded by Uncertainty, Venice Jury Chief Huppert Says

The 81st Venice Film Festival Jury member Isabelle Huppert poses during a photocall on the day of the opening ceremony of the 81st Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy, August 28, 2024. (Reuters)
The 81st Venice Film Festival Jury member Isabelle Huppert poses during a photocall on the day of the opening ceremony of the 81st Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy, August 28, 2024. (Reuters)
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Future of Cinema Clouded by Uncertainty, Venice Jury Chief Huppert Says

The 81st Venice Film Festival Jury member Isabelle Huppert poses during a photocall on the day of the opening ceremony of the 81st Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy, August 28, 2024. (Reuters)
The 81st Venice Film Festival Jury member Isabelle Huppert poses during a photocall on the day of the opening ceremony of the 81st Venice Film Festival, Venice, Italy, August 28, 2024. (Reuters)

Cinema has been weakened in recent years and its survival cannot be taken for granted, French actress Isabelle Huppert said on Wednesday as she took charge of the main jury at the Venice Film Festival.

The 11-day event draws together film-makers from around the world, giving them an invaluable opportunity to promote work that might otherwise not gain global prominence.

But beyond the Venice Lido's glamorous red carpet, movie veterans worry about the future of the industry: box office sales have not yet recovered from the COVID pandemic, raising questions about the long-term financial viability of movies.

"What concerns us all is that cinema continues to live on as much as possible. We know that it has been weakened in recent times," Huppert said at the traditional news conference to mark the start of the world's oldest film festival.

"I am not a director, I am only an actress, but we know what it represents in terms of courage, endurance, solitude, determination, to ... make a film," she added, saying her goal was to help cinema keep going "for as long as possible".

"But that's why a festival like Venice exists, it's like an ecosystem that is more necessary than ever to proclaim these values. So I'm really happy to be here," Huppert said.

Huppert, 71, has appeared in over 120 films and has won the best actress award twice at Venice, in 1988 and 1995. She and her family also run two small art house cinemas in Paris.

Global cinema box office takings are estimated to have hit almost $34 billion in 2023, according to data from Gower Street Analytics, an increase of 30.5% on 2022, but still 15% below average annual returns from 2017-2019, before COVID hit.

However, sales have declined again this year in the United States - the biggest movie market in the world, setting alarm bells ringing.

US director Debra Granik, who is the head of the jury for Venice's more experimental Horizons section this year, thanked Huppert for addressing the "elephant in the room".

"That's why we all showed up here because we want to see this art form thrive,” Granik said.

The Venice festival opens on Wednesday night with the world premiere of Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", which is being shown out of competition. The event ends on Sept. 7 when Huppert will announce who has won the top Golden Lion award.