Spotify stock has surged past $600 per share following the company’s Q4 2024 earnings release.
Why stop at $500? Spotify stock (NYSE: SPOT) has surged past a record $600 per share, for an over $121 billion market cap, following the streaming platform’s fourth-quarter earnings release.
Spotify posted those Q4 and full-year 2024 financials this morning, pointing to $4.40 billion/€4.24 billion in quarterly revenue (up 16% YoY). Behind that sum, subscription revenue spiked 17% YoY to $3.85 billion/€3.71 billion, while advertising revenue grew a comparatively modest 7% YoY to $557.17 million/€537 million.
Amid an aggressive emphasis on profitability (Q4 operating expenses fell 16% YoY), Spotify identified fourth-quarter operating income of $494.91 million/€477 million – with 2024 therefore marking its first full year of profitability. Additionally, the business’s free cash flow hiked 121% YoY to $909.94 million/€877 million.
Transitioning to Spotify’s all-important user totals, MAUs jumped 12% YoY to 675 million; markets outside North America and Europe now account for 56% of these overall users. Meanwhile, North America’s own share fell to 17% during the fourth quarter.
Notwithstanding the figures, it’s still a different story on the subscription front, even with recent data having underscored flat subscriber growth in the U.S.
Spotify paid users grew 11% YoY to 263 million in Q4. And by region, Europe made up 37% of subs (down 1% YoY), North America accounted for 26% (down 1% YoY), Latin America held steady at 22%, and Rest of World’s share grew 1% YoY to 14%.
Looking ahead to the remainder of the current quarter, Spotify forecasted 678 million MAUs (including 265 million paid subscribers), revenue of $4.36 billion/€4.2 billion, and operating income of $568.56 million/€548 million for Q1 2025.
Bigger picture, Spotify head Daniel Ek during the corresponding earnings call deemed 2025 a “year of accelerated execution” for his company. As described by the Stockholm native, that refers to more quickly rolling out product improvements, spearheading a superfan-geared expansion in music, and doing so while remaining “disciplined with our resources.”
“We’re also going all-in on our core and investing in more music experiences on the platform,” relayed Ek. “Think video. Think the higher-priced premium tier that we discussed previously. And, new ways to bring fans and artists closer together.”
Later in the call, when asked about Spotify’s new Universal Music (and UMPG) deal, Ek opted to emphasize said forthcoming music features.
“We look at 2025 as the year where we will double down on music,” he specified, “and we’re very excited about what will come. And many of these things, I can’t talk about just yet. So you’ll have to wait and find out on the product side.”
The Spotify head, despite stopping short of establishing a concrete release date, further confirmed that he’s already using the upcoming superfan plan. Elsewhere in the earnings call, execs – this time including not just Ek and CFO Christian Luiga, but co-presidents Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström as well – were noncommittal when asked about the possibility of cracking down on family plan sharing.