Spotify’s UK branch has cut its workforce by nearly 200 roles in 2024 but saw a rise in profits, new accounts at Companies House reveal.
Over the latest financial year, the division shrank from 1,039 to 874 employees, but pre-tax profits rose from £22.3m to £24.5m.
This is also despite a slight drop in revenue from £269m to £247.1m, but finance income rose from £1.4m to £4.3m, with costs also slightly falling.
Spotify UK flagged regulatory developments, having responded to the UK’s Online Safety Act by enforcing age verification for explicit content.
Users who fail to verify risk losing their accounts and companies face penalties of up to 10% of global turnover and up to £18m in fines if they fall short of the new rules.
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The decline was also largely attributed to reduced intracompany services paid by its Swedish parent, Spotify AB, which fell from £201.6m to £171.4m.
On a broader scale, the company’s global operations painted an almost-polar-opposite picture, with revenues rising from €7.4bn to €8.3bn, but pre-tax profits falling from €444m to €376m.
At the end of July, when the firm released its Q2 earnings, CEO Daniel Ek told investors that he prefers to focus on the company’s lifetime value (LTV) metric.
“Lifetime value is such a powerful metric because it inherently captures the balance and trade-offs between chasing short-term opportunities and driving long-term strategic initiatives,” he said.
“It really acknowledges that not every decision will yield immediate returns and that our progress is not always linear.”
The music streaming giant is listed on the New York Stock Exchange has seen its share price rise starkly in the last 12 months, with over a 100% increase from 328.6 cents to 681.88c, whilst its market cap sits at over $141bn.
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