Spotify shares fell sharply on Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange following the announcement of the departure of its CFO, at a time when the group says it wants to enter "a new phase".

The stock of the Swedish streaming giant lost 1.6% in early trading.

Spotify announced last night that Paul Vogel would be leaving the company on March 31, to be replaced on an interim basis by Ben Kung, the current vice-president in charge of financial planning and scheduling.

The group says it has launched an external search to find a successor.

In a press release, Daniel Ek, Spotify's founder and CEO, explains that over the past two years, his group has undertaken efforts to bring its expenses in line with market expectations, while at the same time being in a position to finance any growth opportunities that may arise.

"I have discussed at length with Paul the need to carefully balance these two objectives", he adds.

Over time, we came to the conclusion that Spotify was entering a new phase, and that the company needed a CFO with a different kind of experience", says Daniel Ek.

For the record, Spotify announced earlier this week that it planned to cut around 17% of its workforce, a move that will result in a charge of 130 to 145 million euros in Q4.

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