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Wall Street’s Tuesday morning playlist features Spotify IPO

Apr 2, 2018
Spotify has helped revive the struggling music business. Now can the streamer show a changed industry how to make a profit in a digital world? Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Music streaming is a tough racket, unless you're Apple ...

Music licensing fees make it almost impossible to turn a profit in streaming.
JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

Kylie Jenner tweeted displeasure about Snapchat. Is that a problem?

Feb 22, 2018
If you’re a business that cultivates high-profile celebrity influencers, what do you do when one of them expresses displeasure to millions of followers? That’s the position Snap finds itself in after Kylie Jenner tweeted that she doesn’t open Snapchat anymore. Jenner, apparently, doesn’t much like the app’s new design, and neither do more than a […]

Snap may be struggling, but Chinese giant Tencent has snapped up more shares

Nov 8, 2017
Chinese messaging giant Tencent has bought up about 12 percent of Snap, parent company of the disappearing messaging app Snapchat. Snap has struggled since its big IPO in March, and its shares have lost half their value, leading to the inevitable speculation that it might be ripe for an acquisition. But what is it about […]

Eminem fans may soon have a chance to profit from their hero

Sep 26, 2017
Rapper Eminem is one of a handful of artists with two albums that have had 100-week runs on the Billboard charts. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t put out any new music for four years. And soon, his fans won’t only be able to make merry with his music. They’ll also have a chance […]

Snap’s share price falls below its IPO level - a case of buyers remorse?

Jul 11, 2017
Analysts have questioned the company's ability to keep advertisers happy.

Will new IPO rules encourage more public offerings?

Jul 10, 2017
The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to encourage more companies to go public. More IPOs, the thinking goes, can be good for the economy. Starting today, the government has instituted a new rule allowing all companies, regardless of their size, to file IPO paperwork confidentially. The filings don’t become public until about 15 days before […]

For public good, not for profit.

Why investors want companies like Blue Apron to go public

Jun 2, 2017
The meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron has filed to go public. Investors hoping to get a piece at the IPO or later will be buying into a company that’s got a young customer base and that’s growing fast. But it’s a company with a business model that’s not all that complicated, shall we say. So […]

If Snap wants better earnings, Wall Street watchers say it needs more users

May 11, 2017
Snapchat’s first quarter earnings fell short of expectations on many fronts, and that has investors wondering if Instagram and its owner, Facebook, are beating Snap at its own game. Instagram and Facebook have copied many popular features of Snapchat and its “stories” platform, and they have the bigger user base in place that Snap wants […]

Spotify’s non-IPO: What’s a ‘direct listing’ anyway?

Apr 6, 2017
Here’s why the music streaming service is considering a method of going public that’s quite rare.
Mario Tama/Getty Images