Spotify Throws Former Ad Chief Under Bus

Talk about hanging someone out to dry! A day after DoorDash confirmed it had hired Lee Brown, Spotify’s longtime ad chief, as chief revenue officer, Spotify executives went out of their way to complain about the company’s ad performance—and by implication, the job Brown had done. When asked on the company’s second-quarter earnings call about Brown’s departure, Spotify’s co-president, Alex Norstrom, said the ad business hadn’t progressed enough, “so we felt it was the right time for a leadership change.” 

CEO Daniel Ek added that Spotify had “simply been moving too slowly” in advertising and that it was “an execution challenge, not a problem with the strategy.” Ouch! Brown declined to say anything in response when we asked. What makes the comments puzzling is that there was no real reason for Spotify executives to make them. The earnings disappointed investors—Spotify stock fell 12%—because revenue and operating profit fell short of Spotify’s previous guidance. But the revenue shortfall was mostly due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against the euro during the quarter, while the profit shortfall was due to higher payroll and other expenses.