SPOTIFY'S DAILY MIX:
STOCK SWAPS AMPED

Spotify could float shares on the New York Stock Exchange as early as late March, according to a Wall St. Journal report, but they won’t be valued as high as Snap’s $20 billion IPO.

Recent trades among private investors put Spotify’s valuations at between $17b and $18b, and the company’s advisers—Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co.—have been developing ways to stir up trading activity. The company has waived its right to buy shares before they're offered to others, for example, and put few restrictions on trading, the Journal reports.

When an investment bank tried to generate a sale that would value Spotify at $20b, no one was willing to pony up. That’s part of the risk at play here: Without a comparable direct listing, your guess is as good as ours about the opening price of shares.

The current valuation does reveal a continuing upward trend for the company, which started at a $7b valuation in late 2016 and had climbed to between $12b and $15b late last year.