Music streaming giant Spotify appears to finally be moving ahead with its plans to go public.
After months of speculation, Spotify reportedly filed IPO documents with the SEC confidentially at the end of December, according to an Axios report that cites anonymous sources. Spotify declined to comment when contacted by Coins2Day.
Axios notes that Spotify is likely on track to go public in the first quarter of 2018 through a direct listing, rather than going the more traditional route where Wall Street banks help a company line up investors. The move would save Spotify money on underwriters, even though the company has still reportedly hired investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Allen & Co. As part of the IPO process.
Spotify’s direct listing plans should draw some scrutiny from the SEC, and regulators reportedly met with senior Spotify executives over the summer to get more details about the company’s IPO strategy. While direct listings are rare—especially for a high-profile IPO like Spotify’s—they also allow companies to avoid issuing new shares to raise capital that would dilute the holdings of current executives and investors. As Coins2Day noted last summer, if Spotify pulls off a successful direct listing, that could spur a new trend among tech startups.
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Founded in 2006, Spotify now has over 60 million paid subscribers, putting it well ahead of rivals in the streaming music space such as Apple and Amazon.
Spotify has remained coy about its IPO plans going back several months, though various reports have surfaced suggesting that the company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange and that the public offering could value the Swedish music streaming service as high as $20 billion.
Meanwhile, Spotify was also on the receiving end of a recent $1.6 billion copyright infringement lawsuit, which may not slow down the company’s path to an IPO, but it could certainly put a dent in the company’s Wall Street party.
