Spotify attracts all ages, not just millennials

session at US$145.87, down 2.1 per cent from Tuesday’s close.

Social media platform Snap Inc’s high-profile IPO last year had been notable for being popular with Millennials, the primary user base for the company’s mobile app Snapchat. But though millennials are also a key demographic for Spotify, the Swedish company’s listing did not draw disproportionate interest from that generation.

Demand was seen across age groups, according to brokerages Fidelity and TD Ameritrade.

“There’s good interest in it,” said J.J. Kinahan, TD Ameritrade’s chief market strategist, who is based in Chicago. “It’s pretty well split across age groups.”

Fidelity said among its customers, baby boomers were slightly more active in trading Spotify shares than millennials or members of generation X. Baby boomers made nearly one-third more trades than millennials and 20 per cent more trades than members of generation X. A similar pattern holds for other tech IPOs, a Fidelity spokesman said.

Retail investor behaviour indicated some caution about jumping in.

On StockTwits, a social media platform whose users are mostly retail investors, only 40 per cent of members were bullish on Spotify ahead of the debut. Negative sentiment toward the IPO rose as the date approached and the expected trading price climbed, said Pierce Crosby, StockTwits director of business development, based in New York.

“Our community is as bearish as they’ve ever been (about Spotify),” Crosby said.

High-profile IPOs of companies associated with the tech sector have had a mixed track record in the past year. Shares of MuleSoft Inc and Roku Inc, which went public in March 2017 and September 2017, respectively, have climbed more than 100 per cent since those companies’ IPOs. On the other hand, shares of Snap and Blue Apron Holdings Inc have fallen below their IPO prices. and businesses involved in dealings with the gun industry have faced public pressure. Activists targeted Visa and Mastercard in particular, asking that the companies cease conducting business with retailers who sell assault rifles.

The New York system, which oversees retirement funds for more than a million people, owns millions of shares of the companies. DiNapoli said he’s worried processing gun sales could be reputationally risky.

Citigroup Inc. last month said it plans to prohibit retailers that are customers from offering bump stocks or selling guns to people who haven’t passed a background check or are younger than 21. DiNapoli cited policies of Apple Pay, PayPal, Square and Stripe, which have all prohibited firearms and ammunition purchases.