SoundCloud lays off 8% of staff in an effort to ‘get to profitably’

SoundCloud announced today that it would lay off 8% of its staff. The cuts will affect about 40 and follow more extensive layoffs of 20% of staff in August of last year.

“This is a challenging but essential decision to ensure the health of our business and get SoundCloud to profitability this year,” Soundcloud CEO Eliah Seton wrote in a letter to staff obtained by Variety’s Jem Aswad. “In doing so, we are securing the company’s future for the millions of artists who rely on us for their living and their self-expression and the millions of fans who come to SoundCloud for the joy of music. It is critical to ensure that SoundCloud thrives in our mission to influence culture, be the preeminent home for artists and fans, and lead what’s next in music.”

Some of SoundCloud’s motivation to “ensure the health of our business and get SoundCloud to profitability this year” may be to ready the company for new investments or a sale.

Sources close to SoundCloud’s investors, which include SiriusXM and Raine Group, told MBW that the platform “is in the preliminary stages of exploring a potential investment event, or even a sale, over the next 12 months.”

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.