Spotify are making a profit for the first time in 13 years
Spotify have been leading the music streaming revolution for 10+ years and at last the company has turned a profit for the first time.
Spotify have revealed their quarterly report for Q4 2018 and it shows the company is continuing their great growth. In addition the streaming service has a positive Operating Income, Net Income, and Free Cash Flow for the first time in the company’s history.
The report shows that their overall Q4 revenue stood at €1,495 million, a 30% year-on-year increase. They reported their first every quarterly Operating profit for Q4 2018, with an Operating Profit of €94 million, around $107 million, helped by operating expenses dropping 17% year-on-year.
Although they’ve seen great quarter the company are expecting a loss of €50 to €100 million (roughly $57 to $113 million) in the next quarter. For the year of 2019 the company predicts a €200 to €360 million loss (roughly $227 to $409 million).
Although Spotify are incredibly successful and are only forecast to see yet more growth this year, the company is more focused on expansion than profiting. As they take a new focus on podcasts they have acquired two giant podcasting producers; Anchor and Gimlet. In addition they expect to spend $400-$500 million on multiple acquisitions throughout 2019.
Looking at the year ahead Spotify expect to end the year with 245-265 million total monthly active users, 117-127 million of those being Premium subscribers. They predict that they could have 100 million paying subscribers by the end of the first quarter of 2019.