From The San Francisco Chronicle:
"Tidal, the music streaming service backed by Jay-Z, has laid off more than 10% of its workforce. The San Francisco company confirmed the cuts, first reported by Bloomberg, on Thursday. They are part of a larger restructuring plan by parent company Block, the payments-focused tech firm (formerly known as Square) founded by CEO Jack Dorsey, previously chief executive of Twitter.
Around 40 people across various departments at Tidal were impacted by the cuts, including members of the playlist curation team.
‘We can confirm, 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,” Sade Ayodele, head of global communications for Tidal, said in a statement. “We do not take these decisions lightly, and we are sincerely grateful for the contributions of our impacted teammates.’
Last month Dorsey announced widespread job cuts at Block, citing a discrepancy between its economic growth and workforce expansion. During an earnings call, COO Amrita Ahuja revealed that Block expects to cap its employee base at 12,000 by the end of 2024. The company now employs about 13,000 people.
Tidal was founded in 2015 as the artist-friendly alternative to other music streamers, in a $56 million deal led by Jay-Z and a constellation of prominent artists, including Beyoncé, Coldplay, Rihanna, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Calvin Harris, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Arcade Fire and Madonna.
Block, then known as Square, acquired a majority stake in Tidal in 2021 for $297 million in cash and stock, with Dorsey expressing his desire to support the artists’ work."