NEW YORK: Shares of Spotify tumbled Wednesday after the music streaming service — roiled in controversy over its star podcaster Joe Rogan — projected lower profit margins in the coming earnings period as subscriber growth slows.
The company reported solid increases in the fourth quarter in terms of monthly active users and 180 million premium subscribers, in line with earlier forecasts.
But the streaming service forecast its first quarter 2022 gross profit margin would fall to 25% from 26.5%. And it projected adding just three million premium subscribers in that period, a marked slowdown from recent quarters.
Over the last week, Spotify has been hit with the defection of several music superstars including Neil…
