Report: SoundCloud only has enough money for 80 more days

TechCrunch claims that SoundCloud only has enough cash to operateuntil the fourth quarter of 2017 – just 80 days away.

This is evenafter it sacked 40% of its workforce – 173 staffers – around the world and closed offices in London and San Francisco.

“We’re on our path to profitability and in control of SoundCloud’s independent future,” the company said.

Company founders Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss admitted that the layoffs have only saved enough money for the company to last “until Q4”, a source told TechCrunch.

But in response to the TechCrunch report, SoundCloud’s official position is that it added money to the end of Q4, and was in the meantime negotiating with investors to inject fresh funding.

These includecompanies such as Twitter, Spotify, and Google, who have kicked SoundCloud’s tyres but have not made official offers.

Some of the people laid off were new hires who had sold homes to relocate to the company’s Berlin headquarters, and are now planning to sue for compensation.

One anonymous employee told TechCrunch:“It’s pretty shitty. Pretty sombre. I know people who didn’t get the axe are actually quitting. The people saved from this are jumping ship. The morale is really low.”

Another employee said, “I don’t believe that people will stay. The good people at SoundCloud will leave.

“Eric [Wahlforss] said something about the SoundCloud ‘family,’ and there were laughs. You just fired 173 people of the family, how the fuck are you going to talk about family?”

Ljung and Wahlforss admit they were upset that news of the mass sackings was leaked before the staffers (“all of them are incredible people”) were told by them.

But the two are adamant that there is still a strong future for the company. It has strong customer loyalty. The SC community appreciates that artists and fans can communicate directly.

Andit has strong growth possibility due to the fact that a huge amount of internet users are still not streaming.

SoundCloud continues to lose money, $44 million in 2014, and $52 million in 2015 and a 21.6% rise in revenue.

But Ljung emphasises, “We’re one of the largest music platforms in the world. Even just yesterday we were in the top 20 of all the apps downloaded in the App Store.

“So we still have an enormous user base and growth and engagement.

“So the platform is still growing. Creators are huge on the platform. The numbers of tracks are still growing.

“So everything in terms of the business is doing well.”