Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Spotify Files for IPO After Losing $1.5 Billion in 2017

posted by mrpg on Thursday March 01 2018, @06:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the the-sounds-of-music dept.

takyon writes:

Spotify has finally filed for an initial public offering:

Spotify, the world's largest music streaming service, has filed for an initial public offering today. The Sweden-based company co-founded by Daniel Ek, who has remained its CEO since its 2006 inception, and Martin Lorentzon has more than 71 million paying users as of December 2017. The company also enjoys an overall user base that includes ad-supported free listeners of 159 million, far outpacing the competition from Apple, Google, Tidal, and others. Spotify will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "SPOT."

Spotify will be offering a direct listing, meaning that its shares can be traded on the open market sooner than with a more conventional IPO, as Spotify doesn't intend to raise a large amount of capital with its IPO. According to CNBC, the price of Spotify shares traded on private markets indicate the company could be worth as much as $23 billion.

The filing gives us one of our best looks yet at Spotify's finances, with the company posting revenue last year of €4,090 million (nearly $5 billion) and a net loss of -€1,235 million (or ~$1.5 billion) for the same period.

Also at TechCrunch.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Spotify Files for IPO After Losing $1.5 Billion in 2017 | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 29 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday March 01 2018, @08:00AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday March 01 2018, @08:00AM (#645672) Journal

    The best hope is here:

    Also included is the latest update on Spotify’s total users, with 159 million monthly active users and 71 million paid Premium subscribers as of December 31st, 2017. Paid subscribers grew 46 percent year over year last year, while active users are up 29 percent. By comparison, Apple Music still only has 36 million paid subscribers, although it’s forecasted to potentially surpass Spotify by this summer [theverge.com].

    That's a ballsy forecast, and if Apple misses that target, it could send Spotify's shares up. You could also see this as tied to the fate of the "HomePod". Basically all of the smart speakers (Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod) are integrated with each respective company's music streaming service.

    Spotify considers flagship smartphones and smart speakers from Amazon, Apple, and Google a threat to its business [businessinsider.com]

    I don't recommend stock gambling. But if you do manage to make some money out of SPOT, you should rub it in as many AC faces as possible.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=2, Informative=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   5