STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish music streaming service Spotify will move its U.S headquarters and more than double its workforce in the country by next year, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.
Spotify, one of Europe's most highly valued venture-backed startups, which is reportedly considering a potential U.S. stock market listing, has not yet shown a profit as it spends to grow internationally.
The firm will move its New York office to the World Trade Center from the Midtown South area of Manhattan, adding more than 1,000 new jobs while retaining 832, the governor said in a statement.
He added Spotify, which has about 2,000 employees, will get up to $11 million in rent reduction from Empire State Development.
The firm, founded in 2006, has the music streaming industry's biggest paid subscriber base, with 40 million users paying to listen. But the majority still tune in for free with commercial breaks.
Alphabet's Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Music, YouTube and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Music compete with Spotify to attract users prepared to pay for music, as does Pandora Media Inc and rapper Jay Z's Tidal.
Spotify, based on a funding round in 2015 had a value of over $8 billion, reported an operating loss of 184.5 million euros ($195.5 million) in 2015, up from 165.1 million in 2014.
Such valuation would be Europe's biggest tech listing since the market launch of German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet in 2014.