Spotify Falls Below Listing Price for First Time

(Bloomberg) -- Spotify Technology SA is singing a tune reminiscent of the Monday blues.

For the first time since going public in April, shares of the world’s largest paid music streaming service closed below their $132 per share debut. Spotify fell to a record low $126.75 on Monday, before ending the day at $131.31.

While some tech companies have defied this sector’s recent rout, Stockholm-based Spotify peaked in July. Weakness across technology has been a factor, but recent concerns from management about margin growth have worsened broader anxieties.

Spotify shares are d on the basis of growth in Premium Subscribers, but market expansion and research and development hiring are drivers of that growth, Raymond James analyst Justin Patterson wrote in a Nov. 1 note. "If constraints on either persist, that could create risk to subscriber growth projections," he said.

But management has been devoted to finding avenues of growth. Among them, a partnership with Samsung Electronics Co., in an effort to lure more subscribers to its platform and away from Apple Music, and recent plans to directly connect with artists.

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