Spotify Falls Below Listing Price for First Time

[NEW YORK] Spotify Technology SA is singing a tune reminiscent of the Monday blues.

For the first time since going public in April, shares of the world's largest paid music streaming service closed below their US$132 per share debut. Spotify fell to a record low US$126.75 on Monday, before ending the day at US$131.31.

While some tech companies have defied this sector's recent rout, Stockholm-based Spotify peaked in July. Weakness across technology has been a factor, but recent concerns from management about margin growth have worsened broader anxieties.

Spotify shares are valued on the basis of growth in premium subscribers, but market expansion and research and development hiring are drivers of that growth, Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson wrote in a Nov 1 note. "If constraints on either persist, that could create risk to subscriber growth projections," he said.

But management has been devoted to finding avenues of growth. Among them, a partnership with Samsung Electronics, in an effort to lure more subscribers to its platform and away from Apple Music, and recent plans to directly connect with artists.

BLOOMBERG