Spotify has reportedly taken a £34million hit on its podcasting arm after parting ways with a number of high-profile clients, most notably Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The popular music streaming service revealed that it had made losses in the second quarter of the year as a result of “write offs and contract termination” costs which are “in connection with rationalising our podcast content portfolio”.

Last month, Spotify made a joint statement with Meghan and Harry’s production company Archewell to announce that they were to mutually depart ways.

The split comes after just one series of Meghan’s podcast series, Archetypes, which both parties stated they were “proud” of.

Meghan and Harry signed the contract with Spotify in 2020, just a few months after they stepped down as senior royals.

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly failed to meet the performance targets to secure the full payout from Spotify, which was said to equal around £16million.

The loss from podcasting formed part of a wider £259m fall in revenue for Spotify.

The company is now working to reduce its office space and makes job cuts in a bid to recoup its losses.

The vast amount of well-known faces joining the company, including Harry and Meghan and Joe Rogan, formed part of its expansion beyond music.

Spotify pumped billions into the venture, but it doesn’t appear to have paid off.

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The company is now having to make 200 job cuts in its podcast division – equivalent to approximately two percent of its workforce.

Las month Spotify releaced a joint statement with Meghan and Harry annoucing the end of the deal, which read: “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.”

Following the decision to part ways, an executive and podcast host at Spotify called the pair “f***ing grifters”.

Upon speaking to investors, Daniel Ek, who is the chief executive, admitted that the company had “overpaid relative to what we should have done”.

Due to this, he feels that the company are “stepping out of some deals and relationships that haven’t worked out”.

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As well as Spotify, Meghan and Harry also signed with Netflix in 2020.

The couple have, so far, released two series on the streaming service – including their highly-controversial docuseries, Harry and Meghan.

Harry also signed a deal with Penguin Random House, leading to the release of his tell-all memoir, Spare, earlier this year.

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