More job cuts have come in Spotify‘s podcast group, including layoffs at The Ringer, the streamer’s podcast network and sports and pop culture site.
The layoffs Monday affected 15 employees, about 3% of the podcast organization’s headcount, with most cuts coming at The Ringer and Spotify Studios, a source says. The changes are being described internally as helping Spotify’s podcast group focus on improving execution, speed and alignment across teams — and that the layoffs not about cost-cutting. Spotify is still investing in growth areas in its podcast biz, particularly in multiformat content and video, the source says.
Reached by Variety, Spotify declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying, “Spotify does not comment on staffing shifts.”
Those who were pink-slipped Monday included Andrew Gruttadaro, special projects lead at The Ringer, and staff writer Miles Surrey, who covered pop-culture topics including television and film. In addition, with the restructuring, The Ringer is ending the show “New York, New York With John Jastremski,” a podcast covering sports in the Big Apple.
“It’s impossible to sum up nine years in a tweet but: I worked on so many things — profiles, theme weeks, special projects—that I am incredibly proud of,” Gruttardo said in a post on X saying that he had been let go by The Ringer.
Surrey, in a post on X, said, “It was a rewarding eight and a half years and I’m proud to have literally written the most articles in the site’s history.”
In June 2025, Spotify laid off 15 employees at The Ringer and Spotify Studios, representing about 5% of its headcount at the time.
Spotify made far bigger job cuts in 2023, when it laid off about 200 staffers as part of a “strategic realignment” of the podcast business. In addition, in late 2023 and into early 2024, the company overall let go about 1,500 workers, representing 17% of its worldwide employee base.
Spotify bought The Ringer, founded by former ESPN exec Bill Simmons, for about $250 million in cash in 2020.
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