SoundCloud is to cut 40% of its workforce and close its London office in a cost-cutting move to stay independent.
The German-headquartered streaming platform is to cut 173 out of 420 employees and will also close its San Francisco office, with the company’s operations to be consolidated to two offices, in New York and Berlin.
“We need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,” Alex Ljung, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said in a blog post. “We are extremely grateful for the contributions of each and every staff member who will be leaving SoundCloud, and we wish all of them the best. Without them, we would not be where we are today.
“We’ve spent the last several years growing our business, and more than doubled our revenue in the last 12 months alone. However, we need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success. And in order to do this, it requires cost cutting, continued growth of our existing advertising and subscription revenue streams, and a relentless focus on our unique competitive advantage - artists and creators.”
SoundCloud's content partnerships director Raoul Chatterjee was asked about the number of people that had left the company when speaking to Music Week last month.
"A lot of people have joined as well," he said. "We have over 300 people working at SoundCloud and we have more working today than ever before. It’s the largest the company’s ever been. It’s a good place to come and there’s a huge amount of talented, bright, smart people within the team that we get to work with."
Music Week's full Big Interview with Chatterjee can be read here.
By Alex Pearson
