SiriusXM cuts workforce
March 7, 2023
By Chris Forrester
Pay-radio operator SiriusXM is cutting its workforce by 8 per cent affecting some 475 positions.
SiriusXM’s CEO Jennifer Witz used an email to staff saying that the layoffs come as SiriusXM is “entering into a new phase” of its business on top of “today’s uncertain economic environment.”
In November 2022 Witz said that SiriusXM as part of their 2023 strategy would review its business. Her memo on March 6th said that the company has reduced content and marketing spending, decreased its real estate footprint and also put tighter restrictions on employee travel and entertainment expenses.
SiriusXM is controlled by John Malone’s Liberty Media, but the business has been particularly affected by lower automotive sales, as satellite radio subscriptions often come with new cars. The company said it had 32.4 million self-paying subscribers at the end of 2022, but ended Q4 2022 at 6.8 million trial subscribers, down about 224,000 from Q3 2022.
Witz’s memo said: “I want to acknowledge that this is going to be a challenging day, especially for those departing from the Company, and I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone for their contributions to SiriusXM. Regardless of the team, level, or tenure, you played a role in bringing our Company to where it is today and for that we are grateful. This was not an easy decision to make, nor one we took lightly. However, it is critical for us to take the right steps now to secure the long-term health and profitability of our business. As part of this effort, we identified areas in which we could limit discretionary spending to minimise the impact of any additional needs for staff reductions. We streamlined our non-headcount costs by reducing content and marketing spend, decreasing our real estate footprint, and most recently, implementing tighter restrictions in our Travel and Entertainment policy. However, today’s decision to reduce our workforce was required in order for us to maintain a sustainably profitable company.”
He memo added: “Over the past five years, our business has grown and expanded with the addition of new acquisitions, business lines, and revenue streams. Now, we have completed an assessment of our departments and functions to determine where we can improve collaboration, consolidate teams to achieve greater efficiencies, and ultimately, design an organisation structure that is best positioned to achieve our priorities. As a result, nearly every department across SiriusXM will be impacted. We believe the new operational design will allow us to move faster and more effectively as we take on new challenges across our business.”