UPDATED: On Wednesday TechCrunch posted a long and bruising article about the popular but financially challenged streaming service SoundCloud, citing inside sources who attended an all-hands meeting wherein cofounder Alexander Ljung reportedly said that the company only had enough money to survive until the fourth quarter of this year — which begins in 50 days.
In a brief statement a rep for SoundCloud took issue with an “extensive number of inaccuracies” in the article, although it only specified and commented on ones regarding funding and layoffs, and went on to say that the company is confident that last week’s layoffs and office closings “put us on our path to profitability and ensure SoundCloud’s long-term viability.”
The statement follows in full:
“There are a number of inaccuracies within the TechCrunch article. They seem to stem from a misinterpretation of information by one or two laid off employees during a recent all hands meeting. Due to the extensive number of inaccuracies, we will only comment regarding funding and layoffs. To clarify, SoundCloud is fully funded into the fourth quarter. We continue to be confident the changes made last week put us on our path to profitability and ensure SoundCloud’s long-term viability. In terms of layoffs, it is our policy not to discuss individual employee cases, but we can share we continue to work with all employees who were let go to support them during this transition, with employment and financial assistance.”
Two hours after this article was published, TechCrunch’s Josh Constine, who wrote the article, sent Variety the following response, which reads in full:
“SoundCloud has clumsily attempted to refute our TechCrunch article on its financial and morale problems by issuing a statement to Variety saying our post contains ‘extensive inaccuracies,’ yet its supposed ‘corrections’ simply repeat what we did publish, and refute something we didn’t publish. SoundCloud writes ‘SoundCloud is fully funded into the fourth quarter,’ which is the same quote we already included from its PR. SoundCloud writes ‘we continue to work with all employees who were let go to support them during this transition, with employment and financial assistance,’ but we never said it wouldn’t support these employees, merely that it uprooted people’s lives by hiring them and then laying them off weeks later. TechCrunch stands by its reporting.”
