Spotify Eyes Q1 Revenue Up to $1.43 Billion as It Nears April 3 Pricing of IPO

Spotify, scheduled to make an initial public offering April 3, released its financial outlook for Q1 and the full year on Monday. Total monthly active users for Q1 are projected at 168-171 million, up 28-31 percent year on year, with premium subscribers totaling 73-76 million, a 41-46 percent year-on-year increase, it said. Revenue for Q1 is forecast to be 1.10 billion euros-1.15 billion euros ($1.37 billion-$1.43 billion), up 22-27 percent over Q1 2016. For full year 2018, Spotify is projecting 198-208 million subscribers of whom 92-96 million are premium. Full-year projected revenue is 4.9 billion euros-5.3 billion euros ($6.1 billion-$6.6 billion), it said. At Spotify’s first investor day this month (see 1803150053) CEO Daniel Ek shunned “pomp or circumstance” of a conventional IPO road show, saying the traditional model wasn’t “a good fit.” Noting the typical IPO requires a quiet period, he said: “We don’t think that’s the right thing to do.” Spotify has allowed employees and shareholders to buy and sell stock for years “and that shouldn’t stop just because our stock is becoming more widely owned,” he said. The company isn’t selling any stock when shares begin trading April 3: “We’re entirely focused on the long-term performance of the business,” said Ek. As of March 21, Spotify had 178.1 million shares outstanding, said an amendment to an SEC-1 filing.