Spotify shares jumped 7.5% on Monday (Dec. 4) following news the company will lay off 17% of its global workforce. CEO Daniel Ek called the layoffs a “crucial step” in a wider effort to be “relentlessly resourceful.” The layoffs amount to roughly 1,500 staffers based on the company’s recent disclosure of having 9,241 full-time employees. 

Spotify shares opened Monday at $193 per share, up 6.8% from Friday’s $180.69 closing price, and rose as high as $201.37, up 11.4%. By closing at $194.17, Spotify raised its market capitalization by approximately $2.6 billion to $37.9 billion and brought its year-to-date improvement to 146%.

Cutting such a large number of jobs will drastically reduce the amount spent on salaries and associated employee costs. Spotify expects to incur roughly 130 million to 145 million euros ($141 million to $157 million) in the current quarter for severance-related payments and the impairment of real estate assets associated with the smaller footprint, the company revealed in its SEC filing announcing the layoffs. Those amounts will be partially offset by forfeitures of equity awards by some departing employees. As a result, Spotify increased its guidance for fourth-quarter operating loss to a range of 93 million to 108 million euros ($101 million to $117 million). 

After Spotify realizes those layoff-related expenses, it expects “meaningful operational efficiencies” in the future. In the financial world, efficiencies equals profitability and more cash left over for equity holders. On Monday, Analysts at Guggenheim raised their Spotify price target from $200 to $220 while J.P. Morgan analysts increased their price target from $205 to $220. In both cases, the analysts believe the layoffs will deliver on profitability goals laid out in the company’s 2022 Investor Day. At that June 8, 2022, presentation, Spotify’s leadership laid out plans to achieve 40% gross margin and 20% operating margin by reducing costs and expanding its podcast and audiobook businesses; the July subscription price increases will help, too. Both would be huge improvements from its 25% gross margin and -5% operating margin in the first nine months of 2023. 

ATEEZ‘s THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL tops this week’s new music poll.

Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (Dec. 1) on Billboard, choosing the group’s EP as their favorite new music release of the past week.

THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL brought in more than 49% of the vote, inching toward 50%, and beat out new music from fellow pop stars like Jung Kook and Usher, Beyoncé and more.

As Billboard noted in the Friday Music Guide, “every inch of the album is filled with percussive breakdowns, rap verses springing into melodic hooks and cleanly delivered interplay between the various group members.”

The eight-piece K-pop group saw success on the Billboard charts with their previous album, THE WORLD EP.2 : OUTLAW, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Trailing right behind THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL on this week’s poll is Jung Kook feat. Usher’s “Standing Next to You” remix, which came very close to the top with 47% of the vote.

See the final results of the poll below.

Taylor Swift towers over the top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 9), as she holds a whopping five titles in the region. She is the first living act to have five albums concurrently in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing list in August of 1963.

Swift stands tall in the top 10 with her most recent release, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (returning to the top rising 2-1), and four former chart-toppers: Midnights (6-3), Folklore (9-5), Lover (8-6) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (17-10).

1989 (Taylor’s Version) was released in October; Midnights, in 2022; Folklore, in 2020; Lover in 2019, and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in July 2023.

The only other act to hold at least five of the top 10 at the same time was Prince, on the May 14, 2016-dated list, following his death. That week in the top 10, he had The Very Best of Prince (falling 1-2), the Purple Rain soundtrack (with The Revolution, 2-3), The Hits/The B-Sides (6-4), Ultimate (61-6) and 1999 (31-7).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 9, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 5. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 9), as the set rises 2-1 for its third total week atop the tally. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Nov. 11-dated chart and spent its second week in the lead, before dipping to No. 2 for the next two weeks and bouncing back to the top on the new chart. The set earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 (up 3%), according to Luminate.

Swift has a stranglehold on the new Billboard 200’s top 10, as she has five titles concurrently in the region. After 1989 (Taylor’s Version), four more former No. 1s follow: Midnights (rising 6-3), Folklore (9-5), Lover (8-6) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (17-10). Swift’s titles, like many on the entire chart, see sales gains gleaned partially from retail promotions associated with Black Friday and holiday campaigns.

With five titles in the top 10, Swift is the first living act to have five albums concurrently in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing list in August of 1963. The only other act to hold at least five of the top 10 at the same time was Prince, on the May 14, 2016-dated list, following his death. That week in the top 10, he had The Very Best of Prince (falling 1-2), the Purple Rain soundtrack (with The Revolution; 2-3), The Hits/The B-Sides (6-4), Ultimate (61-6) and 1999 (31-7).

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Michael Bublé’s chart-topping Christmas returns, vaulting 24-9. The set, first released in 2011, spent five weeks at No. 1 in December 2011 and early January 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every following holiday season.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 9, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 5. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

With three weeks at No. 1, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has the most weeks atop the chart of Swift’s four re-recorded projects. The Taylor’s Version releases of Fearless, Red and Speak Now ruled for two, one and two weeks, respectively. Further, Swift’s total weeks at No. 1 – across all 13 of her chart-topping releases – climbs to 66 weeks, just one week from the most for a soloist. Elvis Presley has the most weeks at No. 1 among soloists, with 67, while only The Beatles have more than Swift and Presley, with 132 weeks.

Drake’s chart-topping For All the Dogs falls to No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 with 85,000 equivalent album units earned (down 42%), after its rush back to No. 1 a week ago in the wake of its deluxe reissue with six bonus tracks. Swift’s Midnights rises 6-3 with 65,000 units (up 16%), Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time climbs 5-4 with 63,000 units (down 7%) and Swift’s Folklore flies 9-5 with 60,000 units (up 33%).

Swift’s Lover bumps 8-6 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned (up 4%), SZA’s chart-topping SOS ascends 10-7 with 48,000 units (up 8%), Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts bolts 14-8 with 47,000 units (up 20%), Bublé’s Christmas climbs 24-9 with 46,000 units (up 56%) and Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) flies 17-10 with nearly 46,000 units (up 23%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.