Spotify said chief financial officer Paul Vogel will leave the company next year and that it has launched a search to find a replacement.
Vogel’s last day at Spotify will be March 31, 2024. With Vogel exiting the company, Ben Kung, VP of financial planning and analysis, will “take on expanded responsibilities” to support the company’s realignment of its financial leadership team, Spotify said.
News of Vogel’s departure comes after Spotify announced on Dec. 4 it would lay off 17% of its workforce, eliminating some 1,500 jobs worldwide. Daniel Ek, founder, chairman and CEO of Spotify, said in a statement that the company “is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences.”
“Spotify has embarked on an evolution over the last two years to bring our spending more in line with market expectations while also funding the significant growth opportunities we continue to identify,” Ek said. “I’ve talked a lot with Paul about the need to balance these two objectives carefully. Over time, we’ve come to the conclusion that Spotify is entering a new phase and needs a CFO with a different mix of experiences.”
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Ek said that Spotify and Vogel have “decided to part ways, but I am very appreciative of the steady hand Paul has provided in supporting the expansion of our business through a global pandemic and unprecedented economic uncertainty.”
On Tuesday (Dec. 5), Vogel exercised 47,859 stock options in a sale worth $9.38 million, according to an SEC filing. That came after a 7.5% jump in Spotify’s stock price on Dec. 4 following the company’s announcement of the layoffs.
As of the third quarter, Spotify reported 574 million users, including 226 million subscribers across 184 markets.
Vogel joined Spotify in 2016 to lead investor relations and the company’s Financial Planning & Analysis and Treasury teams. He assumed the CFO role in January 2020, taking over for previous chief financial officer Barry McCarthy, whom the company said was retiring.
Before joining Spotify, Vogel spent the majority of his career in the investment community as a portfolio manager and equity research analyst. Most recently he served as a managing director and head of the internet and media equity research team at Barclays. Prior to Barclays, Vogel held various roles in finance, including as a portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein and a research analyst at Morgan Stanley and DLJ.
