Spotify falls after Apple launches new services bundle

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(Reuters) – Shares of Spotify Technology SA fell as much as 7% on Wednesday, after Apple Inc announced a bundled plan for all its services that lowered the cost of Apple Music subscriptions.

The Swedish company, whose 138 million paying subscribers dwarf Apple Music and Amazon Music, lashed out at the iPhone maker’s move that was announced on Tuesday.

Spotify said the Apple One bundle disadvantages streaming music rivals by favoring its own Apple Music service.

Apple said the bundle was aimed at existing users of its services and its customers can avail alternatives for each of the company’s services.

Spotify and Apple charge $10 a month for their streaming music service, but the Apple One package, which starts at $15 per month, bundles it with other services such as television or video games.

“What Apple is attempting to do is sort of form an ecosystem, like what Amazon Prime has done, where they become a one stop shop, and certainly because of that competitors like Spotify do face some risk,” said Aadil Zaman, partner at Wall Street Alliance Group.

Spotify already has bundled offerings with Walt Disney Co’s Hulu and ViacomCBS Inc’s television network Showtime.

“You have to assume that we’ve expected all of those things,” Spotify Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Wednesday.

Spotify’s shares were last down 3.5% at $229.61.

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Devik Jain in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)