Last month, it was reported that Jack Dorsey’s company Block was planning sweeping layoffs. In addition to Square and Cash App, Block is the umbrella company that owns Tidal, and now the streaming service has been impacted by those layoffs, Bloomberg News reports. Approximately 40 staffers across multiple departments, or 10% of the staff, were reportedly laid off. Jeff Benjamin, a former member of Tidal’s editorial team, announced that he was among the employees let go, noting that other editorial staffers were also cut.
While a spokesperson at Tidal declined to comment on the specific number of layoffs, they generally confirmed that cuts have taken place. “As part of Block and its recent announcement to cap the number of employees at the company to focus on business growth, TIDAL has carefully considered how to right-size our team to ensure we are able to continue to build and invest in critical areas of the business,” the statement reads. “We do not take these decisions lightly, and we are sincerely grateful for the contributions of our impacted teammates.”
The news comes days after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced plans to lay off 1,500 employees, amounting to one-sixth of its workforce. “Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive,” Ek’s statement read. “Despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big.”
