SoundCloud to Lay Off 8% of Staff

Sophia Scorziello editor Paul Geoffrey, an English actor known for his roles in “Excalibur” and “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” has died. He was 68. Geoffrey died on June 3 in Santa Fe, N.M. from a battle with cancer, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. “A thespian to the core, Paul continued to act for the remainder of his life. He loved French wine and food, had a stunning grasp of history, was a life-long Arsenal fan, and excelled at being the sweetest guy in the world,” the Santa Fe New Mexican said of Geoffrey. Throughout his acting career, Geoffrey starred as Perceval in the 1981 film “Excalibur,” a medieval fantasy film that retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. The film won best artistic contribution at Cannes in 1981 and received an Oscar nomination for best cinematography.

The Los Angeles Times announced newsroom layoffs today for the first time since biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the paper in 2018. The cuts include 74 positions, representing about 13% of the total newsroom headcount.

Reddit is joining a growing list of tech companies contracting due to the bumpy economy, telling workers it plans to lay off 5% of employees and scale back new hiring.

Wall Street Journal broke the news, revealing that Reddit’s laying off employees and looking to cut down on costs in an effort to break even next year. Furthermore, the company’s previous projections of hiring 300 people by the end of 2023 have been slashed down to 100.A Reddit spokesperson declined to share the original memo but confirmed WSJ’s reporting in response to TheWrap’s request for comment.Other tech companies reduced their staff earlier in 2023, including Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Reddit, the internet community discussion powerhouse, is cutting 90 jobs, laying off about 5% of its total employee base, as it restructure operations to position itself to break even in 2024. The job cuts were announced by Reddit CEO Steve Huffman in an email to staffers Tuesday. “We’ve had a solid first half of the year, and this restructuring will position us to carry that momentum into the second half and beyond,” Huffman wrote. Along with the layoffs, Reddit is reducing its hiring plans for the rest of 2023 to about 100 additional employees (previously it expected to hire 300). Reddit currently has around 2,000 employees worldwide.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify is undertaking a “strategic realignment” of its podcast division, laying off about 200 staffers. Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s VP, head of podcast business, announced the job cuts in a memo to employees Monday that was shared publicly. The 200 employees represents about 2% of the audio streamer’s worldwide workforce. The layoffs come after Spotify cut 6% of its total headcount earlier this year and saw the exit of Dawn Ostroff, chief content and advertising business officer, who had previously headed Spotify’s podcast business “We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator,” Elhabashi wrote. “This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has worked closely with HR to determine the optimal organization for this next chapter. As a result, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to make a strategic realignment of our group and reduce our global podcast vertical and other functions by approximately 200 people, or 2% of Spotify’s workforce.”

Taylor Swift is shaking off an unsavory moment from her latest performance, when she accidentally swallowed a bug on stage. During Sunday's show on the Chicago, Illinois, leg of her at Soldier Field, Swift became visibly flustered and had to recover for a moment after gagging and telling the audience, «I swallowed a bug, I'm so sorry.» Calling the mishap «so stupid,» Swift joked that it was «delicious» as she caught her breath. «Is there any chance that none of you saw that?» she bantered.Stammering, she continued: «It's fine, it's all, it's — I've swallowed it.» With a laugh, she added, «So I'm just gonna try not to do as many of those. This is gonna happen again, there's so many bugs.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Coldplay — along with Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson and others — are among the most environmentally friendly major touring artists in the world, and the group has provided an update on the sustainability initiatives in their “Music of the Spheres” World Tour, which began in March 2022 and has so far sold more than 7 million tickets. According to the report, the current tour: – has so far produced 47% less CO2e emissions than their previous stadium tour in 2016-17; – 66% of all tour waste has been diverted from landfills;

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), the government-backed agency that oversees the country’s film industry, has dismissed its CEO Nasir Ibrahim after less than two years in the job. It follows the return of Kamil Othman who was appointed chairman in February.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney reached its 7,000 layoffs goal, handing out notices to the remaining employees impacted in its third round of job cuts last Friday ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Variety has confirmed. The Mouse House’s target was to conclude these companywide layoffs, which focused most heavily on the media divisions and left the parks largely untouched, ahead of the summer. The company still has plans to eliminate more roles internationally over a period of time, according to a source close to the situation, but Disney has now concluded the benchmark it set in February, soon after Iger’s return as CEO upon the ousting of Bob Chapek.

George Michael and Clayton Kershaw agree on one thing: “Ya gotta have faith.”

A high heart rate in May is almost an annual tradition for Stockport County manager Dave Challinor.

Manchester United secured their place back in the Champions League on Thursday after their win 4-1 over Chelsea cemented a top-four finish.

A grandma who choked to death while eating cheese on toast was ‘not adequately monitored’ by care home staff in line with the care plan, a coroner has ruled.

Agence France-Presse news agency, officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs admitted to seizing “22 Swatch watches with LGBT elements” at one outlet.According to the notice, the seizure was justified by the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, a law that has been criticized as draconian for allowing the Home Affairs Minister to censor or restrict news or information if doing so is deemed to be “in the interest of security or public order.”A ministry official, who did not want to be named, defended the seizure to the U.K.-based newspaper The Guardian, saying the watches bore the letters “LGBT” and had six colors instead of the seven that naturally appear in a rainbow.Swatch Group Chief Executive Nick Hayek expressed concern over the raids.“We strongly contest that our collection of watches using rainbow colors and having a message of peace and love could be harmful for whomever,” Hayek said in a statement. “On the contrary, Swatch always promotes a positive message of joy in life. This is nothing political.

The Football League play-offs are a seminal part of English football's season finale.

Manchester United's primary aim over the final few games of the Premier League season is to secure Champions League football.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor In a sprawling new cover story in Vanity Fair, the Weeknd talks about the dark rumors surrounding his forthcoming HBO series “The Idol” and speaks broadly of what will apparently be the third iteration of his musical persona.   The series comes at a transitional time for the artist, who spoke of his theatrical ambitions in an expansive 2020 Variety cover story pegged to the release of his blockbuster album “After Hours.” In many ways “The Idol” is a conclusion of that dark, superstar phase of the Weeknd: Although he insists he is not Tedros, the abusive and misogynistic Svengali he portrays in the show — who is manipulating a pop star played by Lily Rose Depp, both career-wise and personally — it’s not worlds away from the nihilistic, sex-obsessed, drug-addled persona that populates many of his songs. In fact, he says he’s closer to Depp’s character.          

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw‘s mom, Marianne Tombaugh, passed away one day before Mother’s Day.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Today, Empire, the independent record label, distributor, and publisher, has named Jennifer Cabalquinto to the post of chief financial officer. Cabalquinto will oversee all day-to-day and long-term financial planning and accounting operations for the music powerhouse, and strategize Empire’s reach beyond music into the sports, videogame, tv/film and live entertainment sectors.  Cabalquinto arrives at Empire with more than 25 years of experience working witn the financial foundations in various entertainment industries. Previously, she held Chief Financial Officer positions at 2K Games, Universal Studios Hollywood, Telemundo and the Golden State Warriors, where she most oversaw the development and financial execution of Chase Center and was one of the few c-suite women executives in the NBA during the Warrior’s five straight NBA Finals appearances and three NBA championships.