Spotify Now Has 108 Million Paid Subscribers, 232 Million Monthly Active Users

Spotify Technology SA on Wednesday posted bigger-than-expected quarterly losses as it added fewer paid subscribers than estimated.

Spotify said it now has 108 million premium subscribers, up 30 percent from a year earlier, but missed analysts' expectation of 108.5 million.

Revenue from premium subscribers, which account for nearly 90 percent of its overall revenue, rose to EUR 1.50 billion ($1.67 billion) in the second quarter.

The company's monthly active users, which included its ad-supported free version, grew 29 percent to 232 million and beat expectation of 227.7 million users, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Spotify expects between 240 million and 245 million monthly active users in the third quarter. Analysts were expecting to end the current quarter with 242 million users.

Since launching its service more than a decade ago, Spotify has overcome resistance from big record labels and some major music artists to transform how people listen to music.

However, it still faces intense competition from Apple and others.

Revenue rose to EUR 1.67 billion for the three months ended June 30 from EUR 1.27 billion a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates of EUR 1.64 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Net loss attributable narrowed to EUR 76 million, or EUR 0.42 per share, compared with EUR 394 million, or EUR 2.20 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts were expecting loss of EUR 0.32 per share.

© Thomson Reuters 2019