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Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

theguardian.com

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Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#101

Post by superhumanuser »

brvsft wrote: post #54
coldbrewed wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you agree with the narrative of shareholder primacy and are looking at short term outcomes then sure, nothing is wrong here. But this means that we're ignoring the harm that was done to the people that lost their income and the disruptions that the rest of the org will experience. Layoffs can be devastating to the people that were terminated; a job loss is one of the higher stress events one can experience. If you…

> But this means that we're ignoring the harm that was done to the people that lost their income and the disruptions that the rest of the org will experience. As opposed to the 'benefit' that was done while they were granted income? I'm unsure what your point is. Is a business never supposed to 'harm' its employees? They're never allowed to fire people? What is the logical conclusion of your statement? A business oug…

The OC's perspective is that one is entitled to income and being laid off is a regression. In reality, being laid off is a return to stasis.

They consume more than they can individually produce and feel an entitlement to have this lifestyle perpetually maintained.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#102

Post by tenacious_tuna »

born2meme wrote: post #93

[flagged]

I think it's reasonable for people to be frustrated that laying people off (lost value/income/security for many) consistently translates into big payoffs (more money) for fewer others (CEOs, shareholders). It feels like a moral inversion.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#103

Post by candiddevmike »

wongarsu wrote: post #45
game_the0ry wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fair assumption, but incomplete. Its the C-suite management that makes all the decisions and reaps all the rewards, but when they make mistakes, they don't fire themselves, they fire employees, many who had no control of the strategic mis-steps of their leadership. Sometimes the C-suite needs to be fired.

I'm not sure Spotify has really made any mistakes here though. They took a risk that didn't pan out. For an omnipotent being that would be a mistake, but for a person that only has the information available at the time it can still have been the right bet. Firing people when their bets don't pan out just leads to a risk averse culture that dooms any company to failure

The CFO let Spotify hire all of these people based on his projections and assumptions, maybe he should've been one of them let go.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#104

Post by chpatrick »

rco8786 wrote: post #49
chpatrick wrote: post #13

Spotify is a for-profit enterprise and if laying people off is the right financial choice then he's doing his job well. He can sell his shares when he feels like it.

> He can sell his shares when he feels like it He, in fact, cannot. As a C level executive he is going to trade on a 10b5-1 schedule.

I meant on a "moral" level, not legally speaking. If he's doing his job as a CFO and he wants to sell shares when people are laid off, that's up to him.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#105

Post by stets »

visarga wrote: post #7
stets wrote: post #3

I mean -- do you want him to sell when the price is low?

yes, but he probably caused the price to rise for his own benefit

If he had the power to raise the price on-demand, he'd do so all of the time since he owns stock and might even have performance bonuses tied to stock price. I highly doubt layoffs are execs sitting in a room scheming to make money but more likely they are trying to keep the company alive.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#106

Post by chpatrick »

COGlory wrote: post #57
chpatrick wrote: post #13

Spotify is a for-profit enterprise and if laying people off is the right financial choice then he's doing his job well. He can sell his shares when he feels like it.

Of course he can. Still makes him an asshole.

Does it? Should Spotify keep employing people if it's not in their business interest?

It sucks if you're fired but they went to work for a publicly traded company that drove the income from streaming music to almost zero for musicians, not a charity.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#107

Post by forward1 »

_boffin_ wrote: post #58
forward1 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have this attitude in my early 30s when I first made >500k. I thought I was indestructable, irreplacable and had an ego to match it. What a humbling experience it was to be laid off, in fact I think it was one of the best things to have happened to me. My relationship to work and business is much healthier now. I just smile at the silly games tech employers and their staff play.

How did your perspective change and what changed moving forward?

I told the CISO he was an idiot who didn't understand security (in front of many peers), because we disagreed on implementation. Soon after I was fired for "violating company policy".

I realized being right is not the most important thing in the world, certainly not more important than being employed. The other lesson was to never involve myself in office politics again: it is irrelevant and ultimately lowers your standing in an organization.

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#108

Post by landemva »

forward1 wrote: post #97
CPLX wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it’s not. This is nihilism. Growing food and bringing it to you is one example of millions. And no it doesn’t “harm the environment” to dig a potato out of the ground every year or whatever.

Growing food absolutely harms the environment. Maybe not one potato, but modern agriculture is a leading cause of climate change (mostly animal ag, but the point remains). This is not nihilism. This is what capitalism is by definition. Says Rob Urie: > Economic production that produces toxic externalities like global warming, dead oceans, undrinkable water, unbreathable air, etc, depends on assigning little or no val…

Local subsistence farming is better for you, so you eat from your land plot? What are you harvesting today for dinner?

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#109

Post by stets »

galleywest200 wrote: post #10
stets wrote: post #3

I mean -- do you want him to sell when the price is low?

Maybe the CFO can take one for the team, just once. Maybe cut their own pay to keep a few employees around instead of laying them off. Just a little selflessness, as a treat.

Your comment makes more sense read in a sarcastic tone

Re: Spotify CFO cashes in £7.2M in shares after value surges on news of job cuts

#110

Post by bradjohnson »

jmilloy wrote: post #80
visarga wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, but he probably caused the price to rise for his own benefit

The rise in price is a signal that investors think this was a benefit to the company as a whole.

The rise in price really just means that people think they can cash out even higher. If it was already overvalued, it would still jump because people expect stocks to pump during layoffs.

We should stop acting like this reflects a large increase in the inherent value of Spotify, it's just another speculative market. Tech is particularly bad for this.

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