Spotify reported its first quarterly earnings since going public last month, and its stock quickly took a nosedive Wednesday in after-hours trading.
Shares of the music streaming service fell about 8 percent after investors were seemingly disappointed by the company's outlook.
Spotify met most expectations: 170 million monthly active users and 75 million paid subscribers. Revenue was right in line with expectations at around $1.34 billion.
However, guidance for the current quarter was uninspiring. Revenue growth looks flat-ish, projected to be between $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion. (Thomson Reuters estimated less than $1.6 billion.) And Spotify is still losing money ー more than $200 million last quarter, though that's less than the previous quarter.
Not everyone is disappointed in Spotify. Mike Vorhaus, the president of Magid Advisors, said he was impressed by the company's performance in a crowded, competitive market.
"When you are competing successfully with names like Apple and Amazon, and you continue to grow, that's a very very good sign," he said in an interview Wednesday with Cheddar.
Vorhaus said Spotify has great potential, and the company already has a critical mass of reliable customers and two strong business models.
"As advertising increases in the mobile world, that is going to be big for Spotify as well," he said.
Spotify (announced a mobile redesign) [https://mashable.com/2018/04/24/spotify-mobile-app-redesign-free-tier-on-demand-playlists/#wiPqtX_toqqb] last week that has users and tech fans buzzing. The new app is purportedly faster and will make it easier for non-paying users to access specific songs from playlists. There will also be a new "Data Saver" mode that will help users reduce their data usage by up to 75 percent when using 3G.
For the full segment, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/spotify-reports-for-the-first-time-and-tesla-reports-less-of-a-loss-than-expected).
E-commerce platform for construction and building materials RenoRun has raised $142 million in a Series B round, which the company says is the fourth largest Series B round in Canadian history. RenoRun’s platform offers same-day delivery of construction materials to job sites in Canada and the United States. The company aims to revolutionize the construction industry by maximizing productivity and efficiency. RenoRun co-founder and CEO Eamonn O’Rourke joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Facebook parent company Meta reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, and also issued disappointing guidance for Q1 2022. The tech giant is also under pressure due to Apple's iOS privacy change, as well as continued multi-billion dollar losses for its metaverse focused business unit. Angelo Zino, Tech Analyst at CFRA Research, joins Closing Bell to discuss the earnings results, how Apple's iOS privacy change will impact revenue, whether the metaverse is an underrated investment opportunity, and more.
The video game industry has seen monumental growth the past few years - with an increasing amount of companies jumping head first into the space. In January alone, Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard, game publisher Take-Two agreed to buy Zynga, and most recently, Sony announced it has agreed to buy game developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. Tobias Batton, CEO and founder of Ex Populus, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss the surge in M&A activity in the gaming space.
Facebook parent Meta reported disappointing results in its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding to focus on the metaverse. The tech giant delivered mixed results with quarterly profit falling well below Wall Street expectations. Shares plunged more than 20 percent in after hours trading as a result. Martin Garner, COO of CCS Insight, joined Cheddar Movers to break down the company's results.
Super Group, the company behind leading global online sports betting and gaming businesses Betway and Spin, has landed on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC with Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., and now lists on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'SGHC.' This debut comes as the U.S. sports betting market continues to heat up with more and more states legalizing the practice. Eric Grubman, chairman of Super Group, joined Cheddar to discuss.
Miami wants to be the crypto capital of the world. Mayor Francis Suarez has gone all in on the blockchain, even accepting one of his first paychecks in Bitcoin, hosting one of the world's largest digital cryptocurrency conferences, and marketing Miami as a great place for tech experts to work. Maja Vujinovic, managing director of OGroupLLC, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to discuss Miami's enthusiasm toward crypto, some of the potential risks that entails, and where the city might be heading when it comes to the crypto takeover.
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
