For the second time in less than a year, employees at music streaming service Tidal will experience mass layoffs.
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of payment processing company Block, which acquired a majority stake in Tidal for $237 million in 2021, wrote in a leaked memo to staff that the company was “going to part ways with a number of folks” to work “like a startup again.”
The note revealed that the engineering and design teams will see layoffs and product management and product marketing roles will be removed entirely.
“We’re going to lead with engineering and design and remove the product management and product marketing functions entirely,” Dorsey wrote in the note obtained by Fortune on Wednesday. “We’re reducing the size of our design team and foundational roles supporting TIDAL, and we will consider reducing engineering over the next few weeks as we have more clarity around leadership going forward.”
Jack Dorsey. Photo by MARCO BELLO/AFP via Getty Images
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Insiders told Fortune that about 100 employees, or about a quarter of Tidal staff, could be let go. In the note, Dorsey did not say how many people the layoffs would impact.
Tidal launched in 2015 after artist Jay-Z bought the tech company behind it for $56 million. Since Dorsey’s takeover in 2021, Tidal has gone through multiple layoff rounds. In December 2023, Tidal cut 10% of staff, or about 40 people.
Tidal has 0.5% of the music streaming U.S. market, with just over 700,000 subscribers. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music have over 90% of the market combined. Spotify leads the pack with 36% of the market alone.
Dorsey famously founded Twitter in 2006. He is currently worth $4.5 billion, per Forbes.
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