美国国家公共电台 NPR Spotify's Unusual IPO Model Will Test The Company's Strength

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Spotify, the music streaming service, is popular and also unprofitable. And now Spotify is planning a very unconventional initial public offering. Embracing its status as an industry disruptor, Spotify's breaking with convention and opting¹ to launch its IPO without the help of an investment bank. As Charles Lane from member station WSHU reports, not everyone is convinced this is such a good idea.

CHARLES LANE, BYLINE²: Typically how IPOs work is the company going public hires a big investment banker, several of them, to both issue new shares and then go out and sell them. But Spotify plans to simply list its shares on the market and then let them trade. George Parker is a finance professor at Stanford. He says this is almost unheard of.

GEORGE PARKER: To me, that is very analogous³ to a person that puts a sign out on the street and says this property is for sale by owner.

LANE: It's like saying, I got the coolest house on the block, everybody will want to buy it - so why give a cut to a broker⁴?

PARKER: Spotify, by doing this, is very confident that the public already understands Spotify's value and that it does not need others to tell the story.

LANE: Some analysts⁵ estimate this could save the company as much as $300 dollars in fees. Also Spotify's current private investors⁶ can simply cash out without waiting for the traditional lock-in period to end. From this perspective, a direct listing is just a more efficient way to IPO.

KATHLEEN SMITH: We don't think this is at all another way to go public. It's an inferior way, a defensive⁷ way to come out into the public market.

LANE: Kathleen Smith is founder⁸ of Renaissance⁹ Capital. She says in 2016, Spotify got an unusual loan from a group of private investment firms, including Goldman Sachs. The investors demanded a number of conditions to the loan.

SMITH: Suggesting that the investors thought the company's private valuation was way too high.

LANE: Spotify boasts a 140 million users, but most of them don't pay. They listen to the ad-supported stream, and ad revenue is only $300 million a year, a fraction of what the service truly costs. Spotify recently announced plans to move more aggressively into podcasting and multimedia¹⁰ news, a space where ad revenue may be more lucrative¹¹. Jake Shapiro, CEO at the podcasting platform RadioPublic, says global podcasting ad revenue is about $250 million a year.

JAKE SHAPIRO: But by all measures it's growing by leaps and bounds, and we anticipate doubling and tripling or more of that revenue in the coming months and years.

LANE: So if Spotify's plans are successful, it would be positioned to take advantage of that growth. But right now Spotify is still an unprofitable company pushed towards an IPO by private equity¹² firms eager to cash out. Smith says mom and pop investors won't buy it.

SMITH: Investors have been more cautious about companies that don't make money.

LANE: Spotify's IPO is scheduled for late March or early April, but many details remain to be worked out. For NPR News, I'm Charles Lane.

1 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

4 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

10 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

11 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

12 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。