SiriusXM Cuts 8% of Workforce in ‘Critical’ Company-Wide Overhaul

SiriusXM told workers on Monday it is letting go of 475 employees, or roughly 8% of the company’s workforce, as it works to reduce expenses and invest in new technology, the company’s CEO said in a memo to staff.

“It is critical for us to take the right steps now to secure the long-term health and profitability of our business,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz wrote in an internal memo. “Investments we are making in the business this year, coupled with today’s uncertain economic environment, require us to think differently about how our organization is structured.”

The satellite radio company said it was exploring job cuts last November to deal with how a worsening economic outlook is impacting demand for ads and other areas of its business. The staff reductions announced Monday place SiriusXM alongside Apple, Microsoft, Spotify and Alphabet as companies that have announced layoffs in 2023.

More than 123,000 employees have been let go from technology industry jobs so far in 2023, with most job cuts reported in January, according to Layoffs.fyi, a website that track workforce reductions.

Last month, SiriusXM reported 2022 revenues grew by 4% to $9 billion, but Witz cautioned she expected a “a softer first half (of 2023) in terms of revenue … and subscriber growth” compared to last year.

The job cuts will hit nearly every department in the company, and employees who are being let go will start to receive notice today, Witz said, adding she is grateful for their work.

During Witz’s tenure as CEO, SiriusXM has hired about 1,500 new employees, bringing the company’s total headcount to just under 5,700, according to filings from 2022.

The company is in the process of updating the back-end technology and user-friendliness of its SiriusXM app, which Witz has said will enable the company to introduce new products to the app faster, a key part of the company’s growth strategy.

Sirius has also struggled in recent quarters with a slowdown in Pandora subscriber revenue and higher expenses from investments in podcasting and technology.