Disappointing user numbers
Investors dissatisfied with Spotify’s outlook
02/03/2022, 00:40
Spotify is currently in trouble because of its content: Artists like Neil Young or Joni Mitchell don’t want to appear on a platform that downplays the pandemic. The fact that the stock of the music streaming leader crashes after hours has other reasons.
Music streaming market leader Spotify has missed market expectations with its forecast for the current quarter amid the controversy surrounding corona information on its podcast platform. The share initially fell by more than 17 percent in after-hours trading, later flattening the minus to around 10 percent.
Spotify expects to have 418 million monthly active users by the end of the first quarter, of which 183 million are said to be paying subscribers. Analysts had expected 184 million. In the past quarter, the number of subscription customers rose from 172 to 180 million. The total number of users grew from 381 to 406 million.
In the past quarter, sales rose by 24 percent year-on-year to just under 2.7 billion euros. In addition to subscription revenues, advertising also made a greater contribution. The bottom line is that the loss of 39 million euros fell from 125 million euros a year earlier.
Spotify was recently in negative headlines after musicians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell had their songs removed from the streaming service in protest. They accuse Spotify of tolerating dangerous misinformation about the corona virus in podcasts. Above all, they refer to the talk podcast by Joe Rogan, which can only be heard on Spotify.