Spotify Seeks New CFO as Company ‘Enters a New Phase’

Spotify has announced that it is seeking a new chief financial officer as the company “enters a new phase.”

CFO Paul Vogel will leave Spotify on March 31, and the company is now conducting an external search for his successor, Spotify said in a Thursday (Dec. 7) press release.

In the meantime, Spotify Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis Ben Kung will take on expanded responsibilities while the company realigns its financial leadership team, according to the release.

These changes are happening at a time when Spotify is balancing two objectives, working to bring its spending more in line with market expectations while also funding its growth opportunities, Daniel Ek, founder, CEO and chairman of the board of directors at Spotify, said in the release.

“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 said. “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.”

This announcement comes three days after Spotify announced that it is laying off 17% of its workforce as the company tries to cut costs.

The layoffs are Spotify’s third round this year and amount to about 1,500 people. The two earlier rounds of layoffs impacted a respective 6% and 2% of the audio streaming subscription provider’s workforce.

Addressing the latest job cuts on Monday (Dec. 4), Ek said the company has enjoyed “robust” growth this year but now finds itself in a very different environment in which its cost structure is too big.

When announcing the CFO transition on Thursday, Ek said that Spotify is initiating its search for a new financial leader “from a position of strength.”

“I am enormously proud of the strides we’ve made as a company,” Ek said in the press release. “We are on track to deliver against the goals we outlined at our Investor Day and our recent actions will help us accelerate these efforts.”