A snapshot of Spotify stock growth as of early trading on Thursday, April 4th, 2024.
Spotify stock (NYSE: SPOT) has experienced a double-digit valuation spike – which elevated shares to a 52-week high – after reports pointed to plans for further price increases.
When trading kicked off this morning, SPOT jumped to nearly $297, up approximately 14 percent across the past five days. The rally continued into the afternoon, as Spotify stock touched the mentioned 52-week high of $304 per share.
The latter represents the stock’s largest per-share price not only across the past year, but since market trends and the announcement of (an initial) deal for The Joe Rogan Experience elevated SPOT to around $400 in Q1 2021. Meanwhile, when the market closed, SPOT had settled at $295.96, still up 57 percent from 2024’s beginning and 126 percent from early April of 2023.
As noted, investors’ optimism has arrived not following the official announcement of price bumps, but on the heels of related reports. According to the latter, Spotify will confirm the news sooner rather than later.
That’s because $1 to $2 hikes are expected to roll out in fresh plans, encompassing audiobook listening as well as music and podcasts, in Australia, the U.K., and more by April’s end. The current system, where paid users receive 15 hours of no-additional-cost audiobook access each month, will ultimately be retired, the reports insinuated.
(A similar price bump is reportedly being teed up for the U.S. later in 2024, and Spotify offers a standalone audiobook subscription as well.)
However, besides the more expensive (audiobook-equipped) tier, subscribers will reportedly be able to explore the existing package, with unlimited access to music and podcasts, for the same cost as before. In the U.S., that price is $10.99 per month for individual accounts; Spotify last summer implemented increases in the States and a multitude of other markets.
Other higher-priced packages – among them Supremium, which will reportedly include extra features and higher-quality audio – are also in the works. Bigger picture, these more expensive options represent a key step on Spotify’s journey to long-term profitability; music’s margins are razor thin for the business, which has dropped billions on podcasts and audiobooks.
Time will, of course, reveal whether this profitability push delivers the desired result. But investors are evidently positive, and Spotify, which laid off 17 percent of its team in December, has disclosed plans to remain consistently in the black. Today, the entity formally named Christian Luiga, an exec with Stockholm-headquartered “leading defence and security company” Saab, chief financial officer.
Saab is an investor in and partner of Ek-backed AI defense company Helsing; Ek has also put up funding for Air Street Capital, an AI-focused VC with stakes in several defense startups.
