See SPOT list.
Spotify, the world’s most-used on-demand music streaming service, has pulled the curtain back on its New York Stock Exchange debut, expected in late March or early April, when it will trade under the symbol SPOT, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
As NPR has reported, Spotify is not entering the market through an initial public offering, but will simply list its shares on the NYSE, saving the company an estimated $300 million in the fees usually associated with going public.
Spotify was launched in Stockholm in 2006, by Daniel Ek, now its CEO, and Martin Lorentzon, its director. It wasn’t the first “on-demand” streaming service — that distinction is Rhapsody’s, launched in 2001 — but it was the first to gain significant traction with consumers. According to its filing, Spotify is now used in 61 countries by 159 million people a month, 71 million of whom pay for the service.
Despite the fact that most of its users don’t pay, the 71 million who do generate 90 percent of the company’s revenue, according to the filing. But, like many tech companies that focus on acquiring users over generating money, it has yet to turn a profit — last year alone, the company made $4.98 billion, but lost $1.5 billion.