Music streaming service Tidal is laying off more than 10% of its staff, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The move comes as Tidal’s parent company, Jack Dorsey’s Block, recently told investors in a letter that it plans to cap the number of people at the company at 12,000. The layoffs news was first reported by Bloomberg.
“As part of Block and its recent announcement to cap the number of employees at the company to focus on business growth, Tidal has carefully considered how to right-size our team to ensure we are able to continue to build and invest in critical areas of the business,” Tidal spokesperson Sade Ayodele told TechCrunch in an email. “We do not take these decisions lightly, and we are sincerely grateful for the contributions of our impacted teammates.”
Bloomberg reports that the cuts impact around 40 people at the music streaming company across various departments, including the curation team that builds playlists.
Block CFO Amrita Ahuja said during the company’s earnings call last month that it had just over 13,000 employees, and that it plans to reach its 12,000 cap by the end of 2024.
Tidal isn’t the only music streaming company to announce layoffs in the past week, as Spotify cut about 1,500 jobs, or about 17% of its workforce on Monday. Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said the layoffs were conducted due to slow economic growth and rising capital costs.
Tidal’s layoffs are the latest cuts affecting the tech industry, which has faced a significant blow this year with job losses exceeding 240,000, a 50% increase from the previous year. Throughout the past year, tech giants like Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, along with numerous startups, have announced significant staff cuts.
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