Spotify reports record quarterly profit after a year marked by deep layoffs and activist attention

Spotify beat expectations on the top and bottom lines when it reported quarterly earnings Tuesday, after a year of activist investor scrutiny and cost cutting.

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Apr 23, 2024 - 21:08
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Spotify reports record quarterly profit after a year marked by deep layoffs and activist attention

Daniel Ek, CEO of Swedish music streaming service Spotify, gestures as he makes a speech at a press conference in Tokyo on September 29, 2016.

Toru Yamanaka | AFP | Getty Images

Spotify reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, notching record quarterly profit and beating estimates on the top and bottom lines, after a year of deep cost cutting and streamlining.

Here's how the company did, compared with analyst expectations:

Earnings per share: 97 euro cents ($1.04) vs. 65 euro cents expected by LSEG analystsRevenue: 3.64 billion euros vs. 3.61 billion euros expected by LSEG analystsMonthly active users (MAUs): 615 million vs. 618 million estimated by StreetAccount

Spotify shares jumped more than 10% on the news. The Swedish company also beat guidance on quarterly gross margin.

The streaming giant went into cost-cutting mode last year, laying off more than a quarter of its headcount, according to industry tracker Layoffs.fyi. Spotify re-signed a marquee deal with controversial podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this year but otherwise significantly pared back its ambitions in the podcast business.

Spotify also issued guidance for the upcoming quarter. The company expects net new MAUs of 16 million, for a total of 631 million monthly active users. It also guided to an improved gross margin of 28.1%, driven by businesswide cost improvements.

"Overall, we are encouraged by the strong start to the year and view the business as well positioned to deliver on the goals outlined at our 2022 Investor Day," the company told shareholders in a presentation.

Many of the changes the company made in the last 12 months came after Mason Morfit's ValueAct disclosed a stake in the company in February 2023 and publicly called for spending rationalization. Spotify laid off 17% of its staff by the end of the year.

Spotify's business itself also showed growth, with MAUs increasing 19% year over year and 2% compared with the prior quarter. Still, the company missed its MAU guidance by 3 million users. Spotify attributed the slowed growth to "moderated marketing activity" — driven by cost cutting — resulting in "more normalized growth."

ValueAct, which manages nearly $12 billion in assets, has a 0.5% Spotify stake valued at $280 million. When the activist investor first disclosed the position in 2023, it owned around 1.2% of Spotify. The value of its initial investment has more than doubled, according to FactSet estimates.

Correction: Spotify reported its first-quarter earnings in euros. An earlier version misstated the currency.