Spotify announce CFO, who cashed out $9.3 million in shares a day after mass layoffs, is leaving the company

Spotify has announced its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Paul Vogel will be leaving the company.

The news follows a report that he cashed out millions in shares, just a day after it was announced 17% of Spotify’s staff are being laid off.

Music Business Worldwide discovered in an SEC filing on December 5 that Vogel cashed out 47,859 shares in Spotify equalling to $9.377 million (around £7.3 million).

The SEC shows that Vogel cashed out these shares just 24 hours after Spotify laid off an estimated 1,500 people gobally.

According to Music Business Worldwide’s findings, Paul Vogel’s annual base salary was $600,000 in 2022 but he had also received options awards worth $6.187 million.

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Vogel is due to leave Spotify in March 2024 as part of an agreement with CEO Daniel Ek.

Ek has since released a statement on the departure of Spotify’s CFO. The statement reads: “Spotify has embarked on an evolution over the last two years to bring our spending more in line with market expectations while also funding the significant growth opportunities we continue to identify.

“I’ve talked a lot with Paul about the need to balance these two objectives carefully. 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. 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.”

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Ek continues: “As we initiate the search for a new leader, we do so from a position of strength. I am enormously proud of the strides we’ve made as a company. 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. We look forward to tapping a strong financial leader as our next CFO and I will share more details soon.”

Daniel Ek called the recent layoffs a “difficult decision” in order to “cut costs”.

Those employees affected by this are said to receive five months of redundancy pay and five months of healthcare coverage.

This isn’t the first layoffs from Spotify this year - in January, the company announced that it would axe 600 roles, and a further 200 in June.

Mixmag have reached out to Spotify for a comment.

[Via: Music Business Worldwide]

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Multimedia Editor, follow her on Twitter