Sahar Elhabashi, Spotify’s vice president and head of podcast business, will leave the streaming giant at the end of 2024 after a six-year tenure.

According to Variety, on September 18, Spotify’s podcast organization received memos about Elhabashi’s exit. 

During Elhabashi’s leadership, Spotify’s podcast audience grew from less than 10 million to over 150 million listeners. She oversaw a strategic shift from platform-exclusive deals with top podcasters like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper, opting for broader distribution to maximize audience reach.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek explained earlier this year that exclusive deals underperformed in ad sales and limited creators’ audience potential, prompting the strategy change. The company reported that podcast ad revenue in Q1 grew faster than music revenue, driven by increased impressions across original and licensed content.

In the interim, Roman Wasenmüller, currently involved in Spotify’s international podcast efforts, will lead the group. 

Emma Vaughn, head of advertising business development and partnerships, will assume leadership of global advertising and content business development for podcasts. Shilpa Rao continues to lead podcast business affairs and contract operations, reporting to Vaughn.

Elhabashi, who joined Spotify in December 2018, took over podcast operations following Dawn Ostroff’s departure in January 2023. Her role included overseeing layoffs across podcast teams as part of a business recalibration effort.

Spotify has initiated an internal and external search for Elhabashi’s replacement. The company maintains that podcasts remain on track for full-year profitability in 2024 despite softer pricing partially offsetting growth in sold impressions.