On Thursday, Storytel released the first quarter's streaming revenue.

In a press release, the acting CEO Ingrid Bojner was pleased with the good results in the Nordic region and the company's now two million subscribers.

But not everything has been peace and joy at the audiobook company lately.

Last year's negative result was certainly expected in light of the investments made to grow abroad.

But on March 17, Storytel announced that the workforce would be reduced by a hundred people - more than one in ten employees had to leave.

One month earlier, the founder and CEO Jonas Tellander had left his post.

Whether the decision was voluntary or not is unknown, but Tellander received a severance pay of SEK 4.2 million.

"Earned less and less"

The reason for the dismissals is that Storytel, in its eagerness to establish itself internationally, has invested in regions that have not really paid off, says SVT's financial reporter Peter Rawet.

Today it is launched in 25 markets around the world.

- You would have world domination and enter markets that cost more than you get out.

They have increased the number of customers and readers, at the same time they have earned less and less kronor per customer.

Therefore, they are now choosing to change course with an investment in fewer and more audiobook-mature markets, such as the American one.

- There people read a lot and you can get paid well.

Books in English can also be used in other markets so everything is cheaper.

Do not learn to influence the Swedish book industry

In 17 years, Storytel has become a major player in the Swedish publishing industry and in 2016 they bought the giant Norstedts.

Despite this, the audiobook company's redundancies and price changes are unlikely to affect the Swedish book industry, Peter Rawet believes.

- These are losses made in other markets, it does not have to play a role for Sweden.

Here in the Nordics, the money ticks in quite safely.

- It is rather the case that we as readers here in Sweden could try to get a slightly cheaper price and publishers might be able to charge better for their authors.