Spotify is the leading global music streaming service, with over 750 million monthly active users and nearly 300 million paying subscribers, with the latter constituting the firm’s premium segment. Most of the firm’s revenue and nearly all its gross profit come from subscribers, who pay a monthly fee to access a music library that includes most of the most popular songs ever recorded, including all from the major record labels. The firm also offers access to audiobooks and integrates podcasts within its standard music app. Podcast content is not exclusive and is typically free to access on other platforms. Ad-supported users can access a similar music catalog, but cannot customize a similar on-demand experience.

Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider trading and institutional stock ownership trends. Form 13-Fs, which institutions must file to report their holdings, are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in from 1Q26. We like to review the 13Fs of major activist investors -- including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, Starboard Value and ValueAct Holdings, among others -- in order to determine their core holdings and new purchases. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Activists have made progress in the past year, with high-profile investments into blue-chip companies such as Fedex and Union Pacific. Here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, as well as other high-profile money managers.

Spotify is the leading global music streaming service, with over 750 million monthly active users and nearly 300 million paying subscribers, with the latter constituting the firm’s premium segment. Most of the firm’s revenue and nearly all its gross profit come from subscribers, who pay a monthly fee to access a music library that includes most of the most popular songs ever recorded, including all from the major record labels. The firm also offers access to audiobooks and integrates podcasts within its standard music app. Podcast content is not exclusive and is typically free to access on other platforms. Ad-supported users can access a similar music catalog, but cannot customize a similar on-demand experience.

Spotify is the largest global music streaming subscription service, with content from across music genres, podcasts, and audiobooks, reaching over 180 countries and territories, though it is barred from China. The company went public through a direct listing on April 3, 2018, at $165.90 per share. Spotify has a dual-class share structure, enabling Cofounders Ek and Lorentzon to control Spotify with 71% of the voting power, though their economic interests are only 14% and 10%, respectively. Spotify derives 61% of its revenue outside the U.S. Spotify trades on the NYSE under the ticker SPOT and is a component of the Russell 1000 Index. Though based in Sweden, Spotify is incorporated under the laws of Luxembourg.