Spotify hits 100 million paid subscribers for premium music service
Spotify disclosed Monday that it has surpassed 100 million paid subscribers on its premium music streaming service, stoking optimism about the company despite its struggles to maintain profitability.
The company said its premium subscriber base surged 32 percent compared to the same period one year ago. Spotify is the first music streaming service to cross the 100-million paid subscriber threshold, according to the Wall Street Journal. The service has 217 million monthly active users.
“Outperformance was driven by a better than plan promotion in the US and Canada and continued strong growth in Family Plan,” Spotify said in a press release, noting the success of its partnership with Google Home and the discounted Spotify and Hulu bundle.
Shares initially rose more than 3 percent in pre-market trading, but turned negative by midday. Spotify has roughly twice the global paid users as its chief rival, Apple Music.
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Spotify achieved its first profitable quarter earlier this year, but has invested heavily in recent months, acquiring the Gimlet Media and Anchor podcast networks and breaking into new markets. The company posted a loss of €142 million ($158.3 million) in the quarter and it expects to accrue losses of between 180 million euros and 340 million euros in fiscal 2019.
