Re:Spotify opens on NYSE, valuing company at almost $30B
by ttul on Tuesday April 03, 2018 @01:49PM
(#16747194)
30 / 4 = about 7x ARR. That's a very high SaaS valuation multiple, but not ridiculous vs comparables like loss-making Salesforce (9-10x).
Spotify presumably is being valued like this because investors are betting that their strong customer growth will allow them to find new ways of generating profits - such as signing their own artists directly to cut out license fees, much like how Netflix started funding their own shows.
If customers were unsatisfied with Spotify, then their churn would be higher - for instance defecting to Apple Music, which by many measures is "better" because of Apple's heft and reach into their devices.
Spotify presumably is being valued like this because investors are betting that their strong customer growth will allow them to find new ways of generating profits - such as signing their own artists directly to cut out license fees, much like how Netflix started funding their own shows.
If customers were unsatisfied with Spotify, then their churn would be higher - for instance defecting to Apple Music, which by many measures is "better" because of Apple's heft and reach into their devices.