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).
Rob Dongoski, EY Food and Agriculture Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss what advancements in tech will shape the future of food, and how we are going to see more and more personalization in the food system.
The year 2021 saw numerous natural disasters around the world, including extreme heat and wildfires, rare deep freezes, and historic flooding. This year's United Nations COP26 conference was key for getting world leaders on board with emissions reductions and other climate-focused policies as the UN Secretary-General said the agency's report on global warming is a 'code red for humanity.' In the U.S., President Joe Biden has focused most of his domestic agenda on slashing emissions and building climate-focused infrastructure. Guests from The Economist, UNC-Chapel Hill, Global Rescue, and more join Cheddar Climate's year-end special to discuss how the climate changed in 2021, and what to expect in 2022.
It's no secret tech giant Amazon has a mission of becoming a major player in sports media, and the company is poised to make progress on that goal in 2022. Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home to Thursday Night Football for the 2022-23 NFL season. In December, the New York Post reported that Amazon is in the beginning stages of developing studio sports programs, and hopes to soon have a full daily lineup of sports shows. Front Office Sports senior reporter A.J. Perez joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Digital mental health company Little Otter recently announced it closed a $22 million Series A round. Little Otter was founded in 2020 by a mother-daughter team, which based the company on the idea that a child's mental health can only be addressed by treating the whole family through technology available to everyone. Little Otter CEO and co-founder Rebecca Egger and her mother, Little Otter Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and co-founder Dr. Helen Egger joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Stocks closed lower Thursday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq in particular under pressure as investors dump tech stocks amid interest rate hike fears. This is the third session in a row that the Nasdaq has slipped. Meanwhile, rate-sensitive stocks gained one day after the Federal Reserve announced its more hawkish policy including three rate hikes this year. Kristina Hooper, Chief Global Market Strategist at Invesco, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, this week's Fed minutes and the central bank's new hawkish policy, and more.
