In August last year, SoundCloud faced the need to reduce its workforce by 20% due to the challenging economic climate. This pattern of staff reductions among companies for restructuring or cost-cutting has become increasingly common, with notable examples including Google, Meta, Amazon, and others.
Now SoundCloud has announced yet another 8% reduction in staff, explaining that this decision is challenging but necessary to ensure the health of the business and achieve profitability this year.
Attaining profitability has been a key focus for SoundCloud, evident in the previous round of layoffs as well. The 2022 staff cuts were positioned as a means to place SoundCloud on a trajectory toward sustained profitability. This latest “headcount reduction” appears to be the subsequent step in that plan, as sources have indicated that the company aims to achieve profitability by the fourth quarter.
In addition, SoundCloud’s leadership has reportedly expressed their pursuit of new investors, further emphasizing their commitment to the company’s growth and financial success.
While SoundCloud’s recent layoffs align with the unfortunate trend observed in various technology companies, it’s important to note that the company has been gradually reducing its workforce over a period of time. In addition to the layoffs that occurred last year, SoundCloud had previously implemented a significant workforce reduction of 40% in 2017.
