SoundCloud Announces Layoffs of 'Up To 20%' of Global Workforce

SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman told employees in an email that the company "will be making reductions to our global team that will impact up to 20% of our company."

"Making changes that affect people is incredibly hard. But it is one that is necessary given the challenging economic climate and financial market headwinds," he added. "Today's change positions SoundCloud for the long run and puts us on a path to sustained profitability. We have already begun to make prudent financial decisions across the company and that now extends to a reduction to our team." Billboard reports: In a statement, a rep for SoundCloud confirmed that the company "announced an approximate 20% reduction of its global workforce due to a significant company transformation and the challenging economic and financial environment." "During this difficult time," the rep added, "we are focused on providing the support and resources to those transitioning while reinforcing our commitment to executing our mission to lead what's next in music." Back in 2017, the company cut around 40% of its workforce, which then-CEO Alex Ljung said was necessary for the company to "control" its "independent future."

Billboard notes that SoundCloud has moved towards profitability in the five years since. "The company obtained a $170 million infusion led by The Raine Group and Temasek and a $75 million investment from Pandora parent SiriusXM." This led to SoundCloud announcing its first profitable quarter in 2020. Earlier this year, the company said its annual revenue run rate was around $300 million.

Fix buggy app then

[AcidFnTonic]

Fix your buggy app then because I went a good two weeks unable to upload any songs due to it crashing the second you click on the button to set the photo for the album cover. Conveniently it would not let me upload any other web browser because I should be using the app that is crashing.

Left such a bad taste in my mouth I'm considering whether I'm going to continue using the service. Kinda like how Acai is now more profitable but my MPC patches are now about monetization and DRM instead of bug fixing.

And th

I Subscribe to SoundCloudâ¦

[cormandy]

And this is because of the type of stuff I often listen to, which is typically mixes, remixes and re-edits from DJs. There is a lot of garbage on there, but the joy is in finding the gems. Kind of like flipping through record bins back in the olden days where I hail from.

Profit!

[Anonymous Coward]

The company obtained a $170 million infusion led by The Raine Group and Temasek and a $75 million investment from Pandora parent SiriusXM." This led to SoundCloud announcing its first profitable quarter in 2020

So, a couple of investors handed you $235 Million and you declare yourself "profitable". That's certainly a good business plan.

Soundcloud is just another in the long list of companies who don't understand that nobody has ever cut their way to success.

Hire and fire, hire and fire, spend and cut, spend and cut. Get off the roller coaster and run your business properly.

Re:

[rudy_wayne]

Soundcloud has been in trouble since 2017. Although, on the positive side, back in 2017 they thought that they only had enough money to last till the end of the year. So, good news, they managed to stretch out the train wreck for 5 more years.

20% less people to manage ...

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

That 20% ... is it across all levels? Or the most critical and important people for the survival of the company, the C Suite PHBs, are exempted from lay offs? Just asking for a friend.

Re:

[NobleNobbler]

But dude, there are STRONG HEADWINDS in the MACROENVIRONMENT

Profit . . .

[indytx]

How is a company that was founded in 2007 still not profitable? I mean, why does it still exist? How is it still getting funding from outside sources, and why are those sources still pumping in money?

Re: Profit . . .

[Grokew]

I'm such a fool. I should've started a random company instead of spending 7 years in college. I would be rich, instead of owing so much in student loans.

Re: Profit . . .

[spinitch]

Maybe They are into Fusion music will be profitable any day now

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

Amazon operated at a loss for many years. When all the execs and CxO people are getting paid they don't care if the company bleeds money. They make out like bandits even if it does fold.

There are three kinds of lies...

[Entrope]

Lies, damned lies, and euphemisms. Apologies to Mark Twain or whomever.

Making changes that affect people is incredibly hard.

What kinds of changes don't "affect people", CEO Dickwad? If you were better at your job, you might be making the kind of change that affects people and is very easy: "Great job on this year's profit and business growth, everybody gets a bonus!"

I don't like...

[joshuark]

I don't like the sound of that, myself. Must have too many managers with their heads in the cloud.

JoshK.

NO.

[argStyopa]

I liked what soundcloud did and provided, but when it insisted on my geographic location I told them to go fuck themselves and have never gone back.

At some point we as users have to draw lines.

I don't understand

[systemd-anonymousd]

Why hasn't anyone told them that the definition of recession isn't when the GDP declines two quarters in a row?

Re:

[q_e_t]

Eh? That is the accepted definition.

Re:

[systemd-anonymousd]

Not according to the White House

Re:

[q_e_t]

The Q2 2022 figures for GDP haven't yet been released by bea.gov, which still adheres to two quarters for a recession. The advanced figure, if realised, would mean a recession (Q1 -1.4% - later adjusted to -1.6%, Q2 -0.9%).

What Yellen actually said (from Reuters - there are lots of out-of-context, non verbatim quotes on crypto sites) seems to have been:

She said most Americans define recessions as similar to those that have occurred in the past: "Substantial job losses and mass layoffs, businesses shutting down, private sector activities slowing considerably, family budgets under immense strain ... a broad-based weakening of our economy." Yellen said. "That is not what we're seeing right now."

Which is a bit slippery, but doesn't mean that Yellen is saying it's not a technical recession, but saying it's a recession unlike what most Americans cons