Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff was the driving force behind music streaming service Spotify's entry into podcasts. Among other things, she threaded the "Archetypes" series by Prince Harry (38) and Duchess Meghan (41) with a deal that is said to be worth around 23 million euros.

But CEO Daniel Ek not only announced on Monday (January 23) that he would reduce the global workforce by six percent, cutting around 600 jobs and restructuring the management. He also confirmed that Ostroff had decided to "leave Spotify".

The Stockholm-based tech giant went on to say that cost-cutting efforts over the past few months weren't enough to turn things around and that more drastic changes are needed to boost business, including a "fundamental change in the way we work at the top." Ek also explained, as Mail Online reports, "Like many other executives, I was hoping to sustain the strong tailwind of the pandemic [...] In hindsight, I was over-ambitious and invested faster than our business could grow ."

According to the company, Ostroff has helped grow podcast content by 40x and signed major deals with Harry and Meghan and the Obamas. That shift toward investments in podcasts and content came at a price, however: In the nine months ended Sept. 30, the company suffered losses of about €150 million.

In December 2020, it was reported that Harry and Meghan had signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to launch a podcast through audio production company Archewell Audio, a subsidiary of Archewell Inc.

The first episode of the Archetypes podcast was released in August 2022. Twelve episodes have been released so far, the last in November 2022. In the episodes, presenter Meghan talks to celebrities, historians and experts about the history of stereotypes that women are faced with.

No further episodes have been announced at this time.