This Early Spotify Investor Isn't Concerned Shares Have Pulled Back
One early Spotify investor is happy that the company’s stock didn’t surge when it started trading on the market Tuesday.
“If we had totally exploded, I don’t think that would have been good,” said Pär-Jörgen Pärson, partner at European venture capital firm Northzone, a Spotify investor since 2008.
“It would be hard to grow into that valuation over time. I think it’s better to have a gradual convergence of what the market expects and what you deliver as a company.”
Investors and experts forecasted major market volatility as a result of Spotify’s unusual direct listing. But the music streaming company’s public debut went off smoother than expected, and despite pulling back from from the opening trades, shares remain well above the reference price of $132 a share.
Reports emerged Thursday that only about five percent of the total number of Spotify shares that were eligible for the listing were actually sold and traded.
That may be because investors aren’t ready to part ways with their shares as they’ve “grown to really like and appreciate the destructive nature of the company,” said Pärson.
Spotify shares ended Thursday at almost $144.
Altro founder and CEO Michael Broughton shares how his company is bringing both expanded credit access and financial wellness to underserved consumers, plus netting early investments from Tinashe, Quavo, and Jay Z’s Marcy Ventures.
Portillo’s CEO Michael Osanloo discusses the company’s decades of profitability, opening restaurants in new markets, and why it doesn’t need trends like dynamic pricing.
Adam Turnquist, Chief Technical Strategist for LPL Financial, weighs in on the latest CPI data, what could get the Fed to lower borrowing costs, and the crypto rally.
Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, breaks down the current housing market and why he’s expecting affordability will get better as the year goes on.
