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- It's been a tumultuous week for music-streaming giant Spotify.
- The company said on Thursday that CFO Paul Vogel will leave in March 2024.
- Vogel's abrupt departure comes just days after Spotify laid off 17% of its staff.
Spotify announced the imminent departure of its CFO Paul Vogel on Thursday, just days after it laid off 17% of its staff.
The company said in a statement that Vogel is slated to leave Spotify on March 31, 2024. He was appointed CFO in January 2020.
"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," CEO Daniel Ek said in the statement.
"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," Ek continued.
Ben Kung, who is now Spotify's vice-president of financial planning and analysis, will assume expanded responsibilities during this period of transition, per the statement. It added that the company has embarked on an external search for Vogel's replacement.
It has been a tumultuous week for the music-streaming giant. Spotify said in a blog post on Monday that it was laying about 17% of its workforce.
Ek said in the blog post that the decision to lay off staff was made because of a difficult economic environment.
"Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive. Spotify is not an exception to these realities," Ek wrote.
"Today, we still have too many people dedicated to supporting work and even doing work around the work rather than contributing to opportunities with real impact," Ek said, adding that the company needed to become "relentlessly resourceful."
The job cuts sent Spotify shares sharply higher, and Vogel opted to sell stock worth almost $9.4 million on Tuesday, per an SEC filing. The share price has risen almost 140% this year, leaving the company worth $38 billion.
Monday's announcement marks the third time Spotify has slashed jobs this year. In January, it laid off about 600 employees and axed another 200 in June.
Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside normal working hours.