According to Thurrott.com, Spotify reported a €72 million loss on €4.27 billion in revenue for the quarter ending September 30, 2025. The streaming service added 17 million monthly active users, reaching 713 million total – with 281 million paid subscribers and 446 million ad-supported users. Premium subscriber revenue grew 9% year-over-year to €3.8 billion, while ad revenue actually declined 6% to €446 million. Co-founder Daniel Ek announced he’ll step down as CEO on January 1, 2026, calling the business “healthy” despite the losses. The company launched 30 new products including lossless audio and OpenAI ChatGPT integration.
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The Financial Shell Game
Here’s the thing that really stands out in this report. Spotify is playing some serious games with its numbers. They’re touting “12 percent year-over-year revenue growth in constant currency” when the actual figure is just 1.85 percent. And they keep talking about profitability while losing €72 million? Basically, they’re using operating income figures that conveniently exclude a bunch of real costs. It’s the kind of financial misdirection that makes you wonder – if the user growth story is so strong, why do they need to massage the numbers this much?
The Impressive User Momentum
Now, let’s give credit where it’s due. Adding 17 million users in one quarter is genuinely impressive. Reaching 713 million monthly active users puts Spotify in an elite group of global platforms. The 12% subscriber growth to 281 million paid users shows people are still willing to open their wallets for premium streaming. But here’s the question nobody’s asking: at what cost? They’re spending heavily to acquire these users while their ad business is actually shrinking. That’s not a sustainable formula, no matter how you slice it.
The Streaming Wars Heat Up
Spotify’s product blitz – 30 new features including that long-promised lossless audio – feels like a defensive move against Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited. And the Netflix video podcast partnership? That’s clearly about competing with YouTube’s dominance in video content. But with Ek stepping down right as the company faces these challenges, you have to wonder about the timing. The streaming landscape is getting more crowded and expensive, and Spotify’s still trying to prove it can actually make money at this scale. They’re betting big that product innovation will solve their profitability problem, but history hasn’t been kind to that approach in the tech world.
