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Spotify Announces Strategic Acquisitions to Accelerate Growth in Podcasting

SPOT | February 6, 2019

Spotify Announces Strategic Acquisitions to Accelerate Growth in Podcasting

Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT) (the “company”), the world’s most popular music streaming service, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire Gimlet Media Inc. (“Gimlet”), the renowned independent producer of podcast content, and Anchor (“Anchor”), the company leading the market for podcast creation, publishing, and monetization services. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

With these acquisitions, Spotify is positioned to become both the premier producer of podcasts and the leading platform for podcast creators. Gimlet will bring to Spotify its best-in-class podcast studio with dedicated IP development, production and advertising capabilities. Anchor will bring its platform of tools for podcast creators and its established and rapidly growing creator base.

“These acquisitions will meaningfully accelerate our path to becoming the world’s leading audio platform, give users around the world access to the best podcast content, and improve the quality of our listening experience as well as enhance the Spotify brand,” said Daniel Ek, Spotify co-founder and CEO. “We are proud to welcome Gimlet and Anchor to the Spotify team, and we look forward to what we will accomplish together.”

For more information on Spotify’s audio-first strategy and the acquisitions, read Daniel Ek’s blog post on Spotify’s For the Record newsroom.

“Spotify is poised to become the largest audio platform in the world and we are excited for Gimlet’s award-winning podcasts to connect with new audiences around the world,” said Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, co-founders of Gimlet Media. “The medium of audio is uniquely great at creating human connection and understanding. We are thrilled that Gimlet is joining Spotify to do that at a global scale, on the platform and beyond.”

“We are incredibly excited to introduce Anchor's industry-best podcasting tools to Spotify's massive user base as we continue our journey, now with even greater resources,” said Michael Mignano, CEO of Anchor. “We look forward to continuing to empower creators all over the world to build an audience, generate revenue, and most importantly, have their voices heard.”

The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2019 and subject to customary closing conditions.

About Spotify Technology S.A.

Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by these creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music.

Discover, manage, and share over 40 million tracks for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features including offline mode, improved sound quality, Spotify Connect and ad-free listening.

Today, we are the world’s largest music streaming subscription service with a community of more than 200 million users, including over 96 million Spotify Premium subscribers, across 78 markets.

For more information, images, or to contact the press team, head over to our press page at https://newsroom.spotify.com/.

About Anchor

Anchor is the company democratizing audio by enabling anyone to easily create, distribute, and monetize a podcast. Our platform is built in pursuit of the mission to empower creators to have their voices heard and expand on audio as a creative medium.

Anchor’s end-to-end podcasting platform, available for free on iOS, Android, and web, provides easy-to-use creative tools, unlimited free content hosting, distribution everywhere podcasts are heard, and monetization options built for beginners and pros alike.

The company was founded in 2015 in New York City and today powers more than 40 percent of the world’s new podcasts. For more information, visit anchor.fm.

About Gimlet Media

Gimlet Media is the award-winning media company where everything begins in audio. Gimlet was founded in 2014 and is behind hit series like StartUp, Reply All, Homecoming, Mogul and more. Gimlet Creative, the company’s in-house advertising agency, helps brands find their voice in audio and produces official podcasts for brands like eBay, Tinder, Gatorade and Mastercard. Gimlet Pictures, the company’s film and television development and production arm, was formalized in 2018 and focuses on bringing Gimlet franchises to the small and big screens. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Gimlet podcasts are listened to in nearly 190 countries worldwide. Follow us @GimletMedia.

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; our dependence upon third-party licenses for sound recordings and musical compositions; our lack of control over the providers of our content and their effect on our access to music and other content; our ability to generate sufficient revenue to be profitable or to generate positive cash flow on a sustained basis; 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 music compositions in order to obtain necessary licenses or perform obligations under our existing license agreements; potential breaches of our security systems; assertions by third parties of infringement or other violations by us of their intellectual property rights; competition for users and user listening time; 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; changes in legislation or governmental regulations affecting us; ability to hire and retain key personnel; our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand; risks associated with our international expansion, including difficulties obtaining rights to stream music on favorable terms; risks relating to the acquisition, investment, and disposition of companies or technologies; dilution resulting from additional share issuances; 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 such other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.