Spotify CFO Paul Vogel to Depart After Cashing in $9.3m in Shares Following Job Cuts
Paul Vogel, the chief financial officer of Spotify, has announced that he will be leaving the company in March. This comes just days after he cashed in $9.3m in shares amidst the music streaming service’s announcement of cutting almost a fifth of its global workforce.
Vogel, who has been with the company for eight years and served as the CFO for the past three, cashed in his shares as Spotify’s stock soared following the news of the job cuts. Despite achieving strong subscriber gains and substantial revenue growth during his tenure, Spotify has struggled to achieve sustainable profitability due to high music licensing fees and overall cost base.
Spotify co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek, expressed gratitude for Vogel’s contributions to the company during a challenging period and emphasized the need for a new CFO with a different mix of experiences as Spotify enters a new phase.
Ben Kung, Spotify’s vice-president of financial planning and analysis, will take on expanded responsibilities to support the company’s realignment of its financial leadership team.
Last year, Ek outlined the company’s goals of achieving a 40% gross margin and 20% operating margin, stating that they are on track to deliver against these goals. Spotify looks forward to tapping a strong financial leader as its next chief financial officer.
The departure of Vogel and the subsequent efforts to restructure the financial leadership team come at a time when Spotify is aiming to achieve sustained profitability and navigate through a highly competitive and rapidly changing music streaming industry.