Spotify’s finance chief, Paul Vogel, can now count himself as the most high-profile casualty of the 1,500 workers to get the boot after Spotify said it needed a different direction at the helm of its finance department.
However, according to a regulatory filing by the Swedish company, his exit will be nicely cushioned after he liquidated $9.4 million worth of stock on Tuesday at an average price of nearly $196 per share.
The previous day investors bid up Spotify after learning the streaming service planned its biggest-ever headcount reduction.
“We’ve come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences,” founder and chief executive Daniel Ek said in a statement on Friday, suggesting a need to more carefully balance spending with investment.
The Stockholm-based global leader in audio streaming said it has launched an external search for the successor to Vogel, who is due to leave the company at the end of March.
It is unclear whether he has already been relieved of duties, as Spotify said its vice president of financial planning and analysis, Ben Kung, would take on expanded responsibilities in the interim.
When reached by Coins2Day, the company declined to provide further comment on the circumstances or motivations behind Vogel’s sacking or what it means for the immediate future.
Spotify lost its resourceful spirit
The CFO reshuffle comes after Ek announced the company’s biggest-ever layoffs to return to its roots as a lean and scrappy underdog, when it punched above its weight and could accomplish more with less.
The news that Spotify would get rid of every sixth employee, after already twice thinning out its ranks this year, sent shares soaring by a combined 10% over the first two trading sessions.
Vogel wasn’t the only one to profit directly from the layoffs, either.
The company’s general counsel, Eve Konstan, as well as an independent director on the board also sold over $1.1 million and $521,000 in stock, respectively, after the price had already risen.
Insiders like Ek selling $100 million in stock in July can seldom be considered a reassuring sign for investors, but it is particularly pernicious when the timing is ill-judged.
In Vogel’s case, the optics of cashing in immediately after many of his colleagues learned they were losing their jobs appears questionable, though completely legal.
As painful as the companywide layoffs are, Ek said he took personal responsibility for wielding the axe after his management team initially debated a more restrained approach to job cuts.
In a letter to staff this week, Ek shared his concerns that the company had lost its resourceful spirit just at a time when the cost of procuring capital for growth was reaching dizzying heights.
Companies like Spotify that need to raise funding—either through issuing new equity or debt—must expect to pay a hefty premium if Wall Street can earn 4% or more risk-free simply by lending to the U.S. Government.
How best to finance Spotify’s operations cost-effectively under these more challenging conditions is no longer a concern for Vogel, though, as this duty will now fall to his successor.
“We look forward to tapping a strong financial leader as our next CFO,” Ek said.
