Within 24-hours after Spotify debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, opening with shares as high as $165.95, shares has dropped as much as 8.5 percent as of Wednesday morning. As of this afternoon, Spotify shares fell six percent below its opening price. It was all good just a day ago, with the company making the largest-ever direct listing for a streaming service. This valued the company at close to $30 billion, according to Reuters. Spotify shares closed at $149.6o on Tuesday. Spotify’s valuation was a dramatic increase from 2015’s $8.4 billion. “We set out to reimagine the music industry and to provide a better way for both artists and consumers to benefit from the digital transformation of the music industry,” Spotify stated in its February filing. “Spotify was founded on the belief that music is universal and that streaming is a more robust and seamless access model that benefits both artists and music fans.” NYSE president Thomas Farley addressed why his stock exchange handled Spotify’s listing as opposed to NASDAQ. “People have asked me why @Spotify chose the @NYSE for this unique listing,” Farley wrote on Twitter. “The answer is simple: we excel at large, complex financial transactions like this. The NYSE market model allowed Spotify to confidently list their shares on the New York Stock Exchange.”
