Spotify plans to list its shares

MUSIC STREAMING service Spotify has filed for a direct listing of its shares, laying out financial data for the first time.

Spotify, which wants to trade as SPOT on the New York Stock Exchange, is taking an unusual path to the US public markets, with a direct listing that will let investors and employees sell shares without the company raising new capital or hiring a Wall Street bank or broker to underwrite the offering.

Because the company will not issue any new shares, it did not specify a listing price. Based on private transactions, it is valued at roughly $19bn (£16.8bn), according to Reuters.

Spotify, launched in 2008 and available in more than 60 countries, is the biggest music streaming company in the world and counts services from Apple, Amazon and Google as its main rivals.

In the filing, Spotify laid out detailed financial data for the first time, showing rising revenue and relatively steady operating costs, which analysts took as a positive.

Revenue rose 39 per cent to 4.09bn euros (£3.63bn) in 2017, from 2.95bn euros (£2.62bn) a year earlier.

Its operating loss widened to 378m euros (£335m) in 2017 from 349m euros (£309.4m)

Its net loss ballooned 129 per cent in 2017, driven mostly by financing costs related to a 2016 deal in which Sweden-based Spotify raised $1bn (£890m) in debt that would convert to shares upon an initial public offering.

“The revenue continues to grow but in particular their costs are growing slower than revenue, which is exactly what you expect in a business like this,” said Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida.

With 71 million premium subscribers globally, Spotify has about twice as many paying customers as music streaming runner up Apple, which has 36 million.

Their costs are growing slower than revenue. Jay Ritter, professor at the University of Florida