Spotify’s opening number seemed to be music to the market’s ears…at least at first.
The streaming company made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday afternoon at more than $165 a pop, pegging its valuation at roughly $29.5 billion.
Over the course of the day, though, that price slipped to about $149, down about 12 percent from the highs of the day, but still well above the $132 a share reference price.
Spotify’s unconventional choice of a direct listing, instead of a traditional IPO, had investors and experts bracing for a roller-coaster ride on Tuesday.
“I thought we were going to see a lot of spikes up and down and up and down,” said Dan Primack, business reporter at Axios. But “it hasn’t been all over the place.”
This smoother-than-expected listing raises the question of whether more companies will follow in Spotify’s footsteps in the future.
“It’s not the right path for all,” Stacey Cunningham, COO of the New York Stock Exchange, told Cheddar before the stock started trading. “There are some unique factors for [Spotify].
“They don’t need to raise capital, so going through the IPO process isn’t something that was important to them.”
Spotify was much more interested in “providing that liquidity event for their shareholders...to have a currency...to do additional M&A deals going forward,” explained Cunningham.
So what’s in store for Spotify’s future?
Fam Mirza, one of the company’s earlier investors, told Cheddar he wouldn’t sell his shares in the listing, because he has faith in where the company is headed.
“They’re so amazing at entering new markets...They can still scale it, and then they get to those bottom line revenues.”
Mirza also doesn’t consider Apple, even as it gains ground in the space, as a real threat. After all, he pointed out, the tech giant has had plenty of opportunity to overtake it.
“Everybody has an iPhone. So as soon as Apple launched Apple Music...why hasn’t every single person who has an iPhone signed on to Apple Music?”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/spotifys-unique-relationship-with-wall-street).
An investor with a sizable short position in Tesla said Elon Musk's most recent statement on taking the company private "was almost a confession that he committed securities fraud." The investor, Will Chamberlain, is part of a class-action lawsuit alleging the Tesla CEO didn't have sufficient basis for saying he'd take the company private at $420 a share. Chamberlain's lawyer, Reed Kathrein, says it's "pretty clear funding was not secured" before Musk's original tweet announcing his intentions.
The internet's largest platform and distributor of GIFs helps brands carve out a relevant place in online conversations, says the Giphy COO Adam Leibsohn. The company's goal is to help brands such as Absolut Vodka and Dunkin' Donuts "entertain, not advertise," he says.
Without its own supplies of fossil fuels, it makes economic and environmental sense for Hawaii to develop its own renewable sources of energy, says Connie Lau, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries and chairman of Hawaiian Electric Company. To do so, the state can use its natural advantages in solar and wind, she says.
Hawaii aims to be completely reliant on renewable sources of energy by 2045, says Connie Lau, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries and chairman of Hawaiian Electric Company. To do so, she said the state can use its natural advantages in solar and wind.
"The market is going to be looking at Tesla more and more as a car company," says The Motley Fool's Jason Moser. "And if that's the case, they better get some earnings in very quickly or you could see that stock get shellacked here in the near term."
The CEO of video app Cameo, Steve Galanis, said he created his platform because "selfies are the new autographs." For the right price, users can get a video shout-out from celebrities – actress Bella Thorne and NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, to name a couple.
Facebook said Friday that it won’t partner with the crypto firm Stellar, despite a report that the two companies recently held talks. Just before the report, Facebook vice president of blockchain David Marcus stepped down from the board of Coinbase, citing a conflict of interest.
How Tesla CEO Elon Musk's plan to take the company private unfolds will depend on his financial backer ー or backers ー says Christian Prenzler, vice president of business development at Teslarati."Traditionally, Musk has had no problem selling these things to investors," Prenzler says.
Tesla's board of directors will reportedly hold a meeting next week with investors to discuss the possibility of taking the company private. The board may urge CEO Elon Musk to recuse himself from the talks.
Samsung showed off its new Galaxy Note 9 smartphone at its Samsung Unpacked event in New York Thursday. The Note 9 comes equipped with double the storage of any other smartphone on the market and a camera that automatically tells you if the picture is blurry.
And we're joined by actor Luke Evans, who is lending his voice to a new audio experience from Stella Artois. He talks about how he stays in the moment and cherishes his 'me time.'
Samsung's most powerful smartphone to date, the Galaxy Note 9, has a day-long battery life and a Bluetooth-enabled stylus that works like a remote control. Cheddar's Hope King demos the new phone and discusses its other features.
