Bloomberg Podcasts
@bloombergpodcasts·503K subscribers·32.4K videos
Spotify Shares Surge After Adding Record Number of New Users
Posted
February 10, 2026
Views
413
Likes
4
Comments
1
Engagement
February 10, 2026
413
4
1
1.21%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
4:07Now PlayingGeetha Ranganathan, Bloomberg Intelligence US Media Analyst discusses Spotify's record user growth and the enhancements made to Paramount's offer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Shares of Spotify Technology SA jumped the most in nearly eight years after the Swedish music streaming giant added a record number of users last quarter, far surpassing analysts’ expectations.
The world’s biggest streaming service added 38 million new listeners from October through December to reach 751 million, according to a statement Tuesday. Paid premium subscriptions increased 10% to 290 million. Spotify said it expects to reach 759 million monthly active users in the current quarter.
The company credited its annual “Wrapped” campaign, which provides users with a personalized, data-driven summary of their listening habits over the past year in a format designed to be shared and compared across social media. Spotify also cited the launch of an enhanced free tier around the world as contributing to the growth.
The shares rose as much as 19%, their biggest intraday gain since April 2018. After increasing 29% last year, the stock gave up most of those gains heading into the quarterly report as analysts focused on concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence and Spotify’s ability to continue to raise prices.
The solid beat in results is an early win for Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, who took the helm at the company as co-chief executive officers at the beginning of the year from long-time leader and co-founder Daniel Ek. Over the past two decades, Spotify has expanded from music streaming to incorporate podcasts, audiobooks, video and now physical books as it seeks to become a broad-based entertainment hub. “What we’ve really built is a technology platform for audio — and increasingly, for all the ways creators connect with audiences,” Ek, who is executive chairman, said on the company’s call with investors. “This identity will matter even more going forward,” he added, as new technology reshapes how people discover and experience audio and media.
In recent months, the company has introduced features that aim to give users more control over the platform, including editorial tools for people who want to curate their listening experience.
One new tool, called prompted playlist, uses artificial intelligence to turn text prompts describing the type of music an individual wants to hear into a playlist, pulling from online context and the person’s historical preferences. Spotify also introduced music videos to the service in the US, and, last week, was among the few platforms to premiere the latest one from Taylor Swift. The company paid more than $11 billion to music rightsholders in 2025, an increase of more than 10% from 2024.
Spotify executives spent much of the call fielding questions about AI. All were adamant that the technology will be good for artists and the company. They cited the popular AI DJ function used by about 90 million subscribers so far, in addition to the prompted playlist feature. Another example of how people are engaging with music on Spotify is by using the platform’s music mixing tools, showing that people want to actively engage in music, not just listen to it, according to Söderström.
“All of this teases the next evolution of Spotify, delivering the world’s most intelligent, authentic media platform, one that you can literally talk to, that fully understands each individual listener and puts them in the driver’s seat,” Söderström said on the call. “It’s about moving from a passive experience to an interactive one.”
Last month, the company also announced price increases for users in the US, bringing the cost of a single subscription up by a dollar to $13 a month. Investors have encouraged Spotify to continue increasing prices in markets where growth has slowed. But after a series of price hikes by several popular streaming platforms in recent years, some analysts are concerned there won’t be room for more.
Several price increases around the world in recent years helped Spotify nearly triple its profit.
--------
Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube
Weekdays 7am-6pm ET
Follow us on X
Subscribe to our Podcasts:
Bloomberg Daybreak
Bloomberg Surveillance
Bloomberg Intelligence
Balance of Power
Bloomberg Businessweek
Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:
Apple CarPlay
Android Auto
Visit our YouTube channels:
Bloomberg Podcasts
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Originals
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
