STOCKHOLM: Music-streaming giant Spotify reported Tuesday that it had higher-than-expected paying subscribers at the end of 2022, reaching a total of 205 million, but the loss was even bigger.
The Swedish company, which announced last week that it will cut about 6% of its workforce to cut costs, will lose €430 million ($465 million) a year, compared to a loss of €34 million in 2021. posted a net loss of
Analysts had forecast a loss of €441 million, according to Factset.
At around 12:30 GMT, shares in Stockholm-based, New York-listed Spotify were up 5% in pre-market trading.
Full-year revenues were also slightly above forecast, at €11.7 billion, or an increase of 21% year-on-year.
Paid subscribers grew 14% to 205 million, beating analyst expectations of 202 million.
This is the first time Spotify has surpassed 200 million paying subscribers.
Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said the company has “gone significant platform growth.”
In a Twitter post, Ek said: “Despite a difficult year, we have finished 2022 strongly.
Among other things, the company said it has benefited from promotional campaigns, a strong holiday season and strong growth in Gen Z users.
According to Spotify, the total number of monthly users, including subscribers using the free version, reached 489 million by the end of the year and is expected to reach 500 million by 2023.
The platform has posted only occasional quarterly profits since its launch.
Despite growing its subscriber base significantly and giving it a head start over rivals such as Apple Music and Amazon Music, it regularly posts annual losses.
Ek announced last week that the group would cut about 600 of its roughly 10,000 jobs.
Spotify has also invested more than €1 billion in podcasting in recent years, but analysts say the company has yet to prove its investments are paying off.
Its foray into podcasts has also been controversial, with US star Joe Rogan accused of spreading misinformation on the show.
Doubts about the platform are also reflected in Spotify’s stock price, which has lost almost two-thirds of its value over the past two years. (AFP)
