Spotify was, in theory, a growing product oriented company which means everyone is focused on growing revenue. To focus on cost savings means enough to make up

Spotify was, in theory, a growing product oriented company which means everyone is focused on growing revenue. To focus on cost savings means enough to make up for the GCP bills means you focus less on revenue and that means less growth. Saving money and losing 20% of your stock valuation due to slower growth is not a good trade off for those running such companies. That's not to say you can't have slow long term cost oriented initiatives but drastic efforts at the last minute (what you'd need to save those 17% of jobs this year) aren't that.