Even though it has been around for years, Spotify is just now becoming a publicly traded company with a multi-billion dollar IPO.
CNet reports that the streaming service went public on Tuesday, trading under the moniker SPOT on the New York Stock Exchange.
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A Swedish-founded company, Spotify is taking a very unique approach to trading on the Stock Exchange, by trading shares for whatever investors feel they are worth, rather than selling them for fixed price in order to instigate a financial windfall.
On Monday, Daniel Ek, Spotify’s co-founder and chief executive, made a statement laying out their plans and intentions, explaining, “Spotify has never been a normal kind of company.”
“Spotify is not raising capital, and our shareholders and employees have been free to buy and sell our stock for years. So while tomorrow puts us on a bigger stage, it doesn’t change who we are, what we are about, or how we operate,” Ek added.
Ek went on to explain about it going public.
“Normally, companies ring bells. Normally, companies spend their day doing interviews on the trading floor touting why their stock is a good investment. Normally, companies don’t pursue a direct listing. While I appreciate that this path makes sense for most, Spotify has never been a normal kind of company. As I mentioned during our Investor Day, our focus isn’t on the initial splash. Instead, we will be working on trying to build, plan, and imagine for the long term,” Ek said.
“I have no doubt that there will be ups and downs as we continue to innovate and establish new capabilities. Nothing ever happens in a straight line — the past ten years have certainly taught me that. My job is to ensure that we keep our foot on the pedal during the ups, so that we don’t become complacent, and that we continue to stay the course with a firm grip on the wheel during the downs,” Ek continued.
Boasting a subscription base of 71 million paying customers, Spotify is the the biggest streaming music service globally. It surpass Apple Music, Pandora, Google Play Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Tidal and iHeart Radio, among others.
For comparison, Apple Music is its closest rival and that service only has a subscription base of 38 million. Spotify is so popular among music listeners that it has nearly double the amount of subscribers than its closest competitor does, and it continues to grow.
“Remember, tomorrow is just another day in our journey to fulfill our mission,” Ek concluded his statement, before referencing Daft Punk and Kanye West by declaring, “Harder, better, faster, stronger.”
