Exchange Commission – Devstyler.io https://devstyler.io News for developers from tech to lifestyle Tue, 24 Jan 2023 12:00:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 Bleak Economic Environment Forced Spotify to Lay Off 6% of Its Employees https://devstyler.io/blog/2023/01/24/bleak-economic-environment-forced-spotify-to-lay-off-6-of-its-employees/ Tue, 24 Jan 2023 11:59:42 +0000 https://devstyler.io/?p=99244 ...]]> Spotify announced it is laying off 6% of its workforce globally. The reason is that, the company is struggling with a gloomy economic environment in which consumers and advertisers are cutting back on spending.

The unexpected news is that chief content officer and head of advertising Dawn Ostroff is also leaving.

Spotify employs around 9,800 people in total, which means the cuts affect around 600 employees. According to the company’s LinkedIn profile, it employs 5,400 people in the US and 1,900 in Sweden.

Spotify faces the challenge of contending with sluggish ad spending expected this year as the media suffers the effects of the economic recession.

In the third quarter of last year, the music streaming platform reported that operating ad revenue was 19% higher than in 2021. The paid subscriber base grew 13% to 195 million, but share prices have since fallen, hinting at broader industry concerns.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said that the growth in operating expenses for FY22 has exceeded revenue by double and described this situation as “intolerable”.

He also laid out the “need for Spotify to become more efficient” while praising Ostroff’s contribution to the company. Among Ostroff’s accomplishments is praise for the significant expansion of Spotify’s podcast catalog.

The good news is that laid-off employees will receive an average of five months’ severance pay. Immigration assistance will be available to workers whose immigration status is linked to their employment.

The company warned in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that paying the benefits would result in severance-related costs of about 35 million euros ($38 million) to 45 million euros.

]]> GitLab Files to Go Public in the U.S. https://devstyler.io/blog/2021/09/20/gitlab-files-to-go-public-in-the-u-s/ Mon, 20 Sep 2021 08:47:37 +0000 https://devstyler.io/?p=71728 ...]]> Software development startup GitLab Inc. filed for an initial public offering, disclosing mounting revenue and losses.

The company in its filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of the offering as $100 million, a placeholder that will change when terms of the share sale are set. GitLab, which helps software developers share and manage code, was valued at $6 billion after a private, secondary share sale by an investor in January, according to data provider PitchBook.

The company had a net loss of $69 million on revenue of $108 million for the six months ending July 31, according to the filing. That compared with a $44 million loss on $64 million in revenue for the same period the previous year.

Though incorporated in Delaware in 2014, GitLab operates as a remote-only company and doesn’t have a corporate office, according to its filing. Its 1,350 team members are located in more than 65 countries.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sytse “Sid” Sijbrandij is listed as the largest holder of the company’s Class B shares, which will have 10 votes each compared with one vote apiece for the Class A shares sold in the IPO. Outside investors with stakes of 5% or more include funds and affiliates of August Capital, Alphabet Inc.’s GV, Iconiq Capital and Khosla Ventures.

The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. The company plans for its shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol GTLB.

]]>