Spotify Announces Stock Repurchase Program, Up to $1.0 Billion
August 20 2021 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) (the “Company”) today
announced that it will commence a stock repurchase program
beginning in the third quarter of 2021. Repurchases of up to
10,000,000 of the Company’s ordinary shares have been authorized by
the Company’s general meeting of shareholders, and the Board of
Directors approved such repurchases up to the amount of $1.0
billion. The authorization to repurchase will expire on April 21,
2026. The timing and actual number of shares repurchased will
depend on a variety of factors, including price, general business
and market conditions, and alternative investment opportunities.
The repurchase program will be executed consistent with the
Company’s capital allocation strategy, which will continue to
prioritize aggressive investments to grow the business.
“This announcement demonstrates our confidence in Spotify’s
business and the growth opportunities we see over the long term,”
said Paul Vogel, Chief Financial Officer at Spotify. “We believe
this is an attractive use of capital, and based on the strength of
our balance sheet, we continue to see ample opportunity to invest
and grow our business.”
Under the repurchase program, repurchases can be made from time
to time using a variety of methods, including open market
purchases, all in compliance with the rules of the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission and other applicable legal
requirements.
The repurchase program does not obligate the Company to acquire
any particular amount of ordinary shares, and the repurchase
program may be suspended or discontinued at any time at the
Company’s discretion.
Forward Looking Statements
We would like to caution you certain of the above statements
represent “forward-looking statements” as defined in Section 27A of
the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section
21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. The words “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “would,”
“should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “seek,”
“believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,”
“contemplate,” “possible,” and similar words are intended to
identify estimates and forward-looking statements. We intend such
forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor
provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include this statement
for purposes of complying with the safe harbor provisions. Such
forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties
and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ
materially from our historical experience and our present
expectations or projections, including but not limited to the
following known material factors: our ability to attract
prospective users and to retain existing users; competition for
users, user listening time, and advertisers; risks associated with
our international expansion and our ability to manage our growth;
our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users
enjoy; our ability to effectively monetize our service; our ability
to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable or to generate
positive cash flow and grow on a sustained basis; risks associated
with the expansion of our operations to deliver non-music content,
such as podcasts, including increased business, legal, financial,
reputational, and competitive risks; potential disputes or
liabilities associated with content made available on our service;
risks relating to the acquisition, investment, and disposition of
companies or technologies; our dependence upon third-party licenses
for most of the content we stream; our lack of control over the
providers of our content and their effect on our access to music
and other content; our ability to comply with the many complex
license agreements to which we are a party; our ability to
accurately estimate the amounts payable under our license
agreements; the limitations on our operating flexibility due to the
minimum guarantees required under certain of our license
agreements; our ability to obtain accurate and comprehensive
information about the compositions embodied in sound recordings in
order to obtain necessary licenses or perform obligations under our
existing license agreements; new copyright legislation and related
regulations that may increase the cost and/or difficulty of music
licensing; assertions by third parties of infringement or other
violations by us of their intellectual property rights; our ability
to protect our intellectual property; the dependence of streaming
on operating systems, online platforms, hardware, networks,
regulations, and standards that we do not control; potential
breaches of our security systems or systems of third parties,
including as a result of our Work From Anywhere program;
interruptions, delays, or discontinuations in service in our
systems or systems of third parties; changes in laws or regulations
affecting us; risks relating to privacy and protection of user
data; our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand;
payment-related risks; our ability to hire and retain key
personnel, and challenges to productivity and integration as a
result of our Work From Anywhere program; our ability to accurately
estimate our user metrics and other estimates; risks associated
with manipulation of stream counts and user accounts and
unauthorized access to our services; tax-related risks; the
concentration of voting power among our founders who have and will
continue to have substantial control over our business; risks
related to our status as a foreign private issuer; international,
national or local economic, social or political conditions; risks
associated with accounting estimates, currency fluctuations and
foreign exchange controls; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
on our business and operations, including any adverse impact on
advertising sales or subscriber revenue; risks related to our debt,
including limitations on our cash flow for operations and our
ability to satisfy our obligations under the Exchangeable Notes;
our ability to raise the funds necessary to repurchase the
Exchangeable Notes for cash, under certain circumstances, or to pay
any cash amounts due upon exchange; provisions in the indenture
governing the Exchangeable Notes delaying or preventing an
otherwise beneficial takeover of us; and any adverse impact on our
reported financial condition and results from the accounting
methods for the Exchangeable Notes; and such other risks as set
forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission.
We caution you not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of our
forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as
a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to
the extent required by law.
About Spotify Technology S.A.
Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription
service with a community of more than 365 million Monthly Active
Users and 165 million Premium Subscribers. With a presence in 178
markets, and more than 70 million tracks including 2.9 million
podcast titles, it has transformed the way people access and enjoy
music and podcasts.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210820005057/en/
Investor Relations: Bryan Goldberg Lauren Katzen
ir@spotify.com
Public Relations: Dustee Jenkins press@spotify.com
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