Spotify misses expectations in its first earnings report

Music streaming platform Spotify reported strong growth in the first-quarter of 2018 but missed analysts' expectations.

The first ever earnings came in at $1.36bn overnight, up 26% compared to the same period last year but missing the Wall Street estimate of $1.4bn.

The company also disappointed analysts regarding the number of new premium subscriptions it predicted it would reach by the end of the first quarter with 75m new premium users below the Street estimate of 81m.

For the second quarter of 2018, Spotify said it expects 79-83m paid subscribers and $1.3-1.55bn of revenue.

This was its first earnings report since its initial public offer on the New York Stock Exchange on 3 April.

CEO Daniel Ek said he hasn’t seen any significant impact on his business from increased promotion by Apple Music: “We don’t see this as a winner-takes-all market”.

He also commented on Spotify’s new development of voice-activated speakers like Google and Amazon: “We view it long term as an opportunity not a threat”.