Streaming giant Spotify pursues public share listing

Music streaming pioneer Spotify is hoping to attract a new crowd of fans on Wall Street as its competition with Apple heats up.

Spotify is pursuing an unusual initial public offering that will sell some of its existing stock instead of issuing more shares to raise money.

The strategy will make it easier for Spotify's existing stockholders to cash out of their investments while creating a potential new financial channel for the company.

Spotify took its first steps toward the IPO in a confidential filing a few weeks ago, but the documents were not released until Wednesday.

The numbers revealed Spotify's music-streaming service boasts 71 million subscribers, nearly twice as many as Apple's rival service.

But Spotify is still not profitable. The Luxembourg-based company lost 1.2 billion euro (£1.06 billion) last year.