For the second time in less than a year, employees at music streaming service Tidal will experience mass layoffs.
Jack DorseyCEO of payments processing company Block, which acquired a majority stake in Tidal for 237 million dollars in 2021, wrote in a leaked memo to staff that the company would “part with a number of people” to work “like a startup again.”
The memo revealed that engineering and design teams will see layoffs, and product management and product marketing roles will be axed entirely.
“We will lead with engineering and design and completely remove the product management and product marketing functions,” Dorsey wrote in the memo. picked up by Fortune on Wednesday. “We are reducing the size of our design team and core roles supporting TIDAL, and will consider downsizing engineering over the next few weeks as we have more clarity about future leadership.”
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's staff, could be let go. In the memo, Dorsey did not say how many people the layoffs would affect.
Tidal was launched in 2015 after artist Jay-Z bought the tech company behind it for 56 million dollars. Since Dorsey's takeover in 2021, Tidal has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs. IN December 2023Tidal cut 10% of its staff, or about 40 people.
Tidal has 0.5% of the US music streaming market, slightly more 700,000 subscribers. Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music have over 90% of the combined market. Spotify leads the pack by 36% market only.
Dorsey famously founded Twitter in 2006. He currently has a net worth of $4.5 billion. according to Forbes.
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