One letter can make a world of difference, as the New York Stock Exchange demonstrated Tuesday morning.
In an attempt to pay homage to Spotify’s going public, the NYSE intended to pay homage to the company’s Swedish homeland. The only problem was, they rose the flag of Switzerland instead. The error was corrected around 15 minutes later.
Rätt flagga är på plats nu! Blir det en dag att fira för svensk tech? #sthlmtech https://t.co/XJ65nG7A00
— Di Digital (@didigital_se) April 3, 2018
The NYSE made light of the error in a tweet shortly afterward with a wry nod to Switzerland’s centuries of neutrality. “We hope everyone enjoyed our momentary ode to our neutral role in the process of price discovery this morning.”
We hope everyone enjoyed our momentary ode to our neutral role in the process of price discovery this morning
— NYSE 🏛 (@NYSE) April 3, 2018
The streaming giant isn’t using the traditional IPO process for its public offering, but instead a rarely-used process called a direct listing that comes without underwriters. This also means that the company won’t have a share opening price.
Spotify cofounder and CEO Daniel Ek talked about the public listing in a rare interview on “CBS This Morning” before the markets opened.
“While this is obviously a big day and I’m really proud of my employees, I really just feel like we’re in the early days, not celebrating the end days like so many other companies are doing,” he said. “We’re now a decade into that journey. And I really just feel like we’re in the second inning.”
He also spoke about the company’s However, he did speak at length about the company’s challenges from Taylor Swift, who removed her music from Spotify and other streaming services in 2014 over what she felt were unfair royalty rates — a decision she reversed last year.
“For me, first off, I should have done a much better job communicating this, so I take full ownership for doing that,” Ek said. “I went to Nashville many, many times and talked to her team. Spent more time directly explaining the model and why streaming mattered. And the great news is I think she saw how streaming was growing. I think she saw the fans were asking for it. So eventually when the new album came up, she came to Stockholm and spent some time with our team there figuring out a way that made sense for her.”
