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Shares of music-streaming service Spotify Technology SA debuted just after noon on Tuesday with much fanfare on the New York Stock Exchange, but pulled back sharply into the close.
The Sweden-based company SPOT, +12.89% used an unorthodox “direct listing” to go public, which means it let existing shares float publicly on an exchange, without underwriting banks to smooth the process. Spotify said it didn’t want “the pomp or the circumstance” of a traditional initial public offering or the lockup period that follows, and wasn’t in dire need of new funds, as is often the case with an initial public offering.
Don’t miss: Spotify IPO: 5 things to know about the streaming-music giant’s direct listing.
The stock’s first trade was at $165.90 at 12:43 p.m. ET for 5.7 million shares, according to FactSet, or 27% above the reference price of $132. The stock then rose to an intraday high of $169, before falling to a low of $148.26. The stock closed at $149.01, or 10% below its opening price, but still 13% above the reference price.
Expectations for the opening price had increased in the hours before the open, beginning with an initial expected range of $145 to $155 around 11 a.m. The expected range moved up to $150 to $160 around 11:30, then to $165 to $170 around noon, before narrowing to $165.61 to $166.00 just before the open.
See also: Spotify has fans on Wall Street as it prepares to go public.
Citadel Securities, the designated market maker for the stock, helped ensure the price-discovery process prior to the open was orderly, and will help facilitate trading throughout the session. Morgan Stanley served as the lead adviser.
Shares of Spotify rival Pandora Media Inc. P, -3.13% lost 3.1% in afternoon trade, while the Renaissance IPO exchange-traded fund IPO, +0.46% gained 0.5% and the S&P 500 SPX, +1.26% rallied 1.3%.
Apple Inc.’s AAPL, +1.03% music-streaming service and Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN, +1.46% service are also viewed as competitors to Spotify. Apple shares climbed 1.0% and Amazon’s stock hiked up 1.5%.
Additional reporting by Tomi Kilgore.