Spotify has reached 600 million users

Music streaming giant Spotify said it surpassed 600 million monthly users at the end of 2023 and expects a profitable first quarter in 2024, AFP reported.
"Spotify had a very strong quarter, capping off a great year of really remarkable growth across the company," CEO Daniel Eck said in a post on X after the company posted its fourth-quarter earnings.
At the end of 2023, the company had 602 million monthly active users (MUAs), an increase of 23% compared to a year earlier.
The company also saw a 15% increase in the number of paid subscribers, who make up the majority of the company's revenue, to 236 million.
For the year, Spotify reported revenues of €13.2 billion, up from €11.7 billion the previous year.
The company still posted an operating loss of €446m in 2023, but that was still an improvement over the €659m operating loss in 2022.
The company has never reported a full-year net profit and only occasionally reported quarterly profits despite its success in the online music market.
In December, Spotify announced it would cut staff by around 17% in an effort to cut costs, following earlier cuts announced in January and June 2023.
In July, the Swedish company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, announced that it was raising its prices for premium subscribers "in a number of markets around the world", following in the footsteps of similar moves by rival music services from Apple and Amazon.
Since its launch, Spotify has invested heavily to fuel its growth by expanding into new markets and, in later years, through exclusive content such as podcasts.
Last week, the company announced it had renewed its contract with Joe Rogan, signing a "multi-year partnership" for his flagship, chart-topping podcast.
For the first quarter of 2024, the company said it expects to reach 618 million MUA and make an operating profit of 180 million euros. /BGNES