FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Spotify Is Officially Going Public

The company—which has a reported value of $23 billion—will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as SPOT.
Photo by TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images

Spotify has officially filed to go public today, according to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC. As was reported in early January, the music streaming standard-bearers have filed for a direct listing with the New York Stock Exchange, which allowed private investors to trade shares before going wide to the public. According to their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company's 2.8 million shares have traded for up to $132.50 each so far in 2018, which places its value at up to $23.4 billion. It remains unclear, however, where the value will settle once a public price for their shares is settled upon.

Advertisement

In the filing, as Bloomberg points out, the company acknowledges that the price "may have little or no relationship to the historical sales prices of our ordinary shares in private transactions.” Elsewhere in the documents was a letter from the company's CEO Daniel Ek, who reaffirmed the company's commitment to making a better experience for users, which he says would let artists live off their work.

“We firmly believe that in the long run, these priorities will provide greater returns to all of our stakeholders,” Ek said.

This recommitment comes amidst continuing questions about the sustainability of the streaming ecosystem for artists of all sizes, and a $1.6 billion copyright lawsuit involving Spotify's practices of licensing with music publishers.