Spotify founder Daniel Ek is to step down as CEO from the company.
Ek who founded the streaming platform roughly 20 years ago, has announced that he will be transferring to an executive chairman role from 1 January 2026. He will be replaced as CEO by Spotify co presidents, Gustav Soderstrom and Alex Norstrom.
Nostrom serves as Spotify's chief business officer, while Soderstrum leads the company's product and technology unit.
Outgoing CEO, Daniel Ek released the following statement.
“As Executive Chairman, I will spend more of my time on the long arc: strategy, capital allocation, regulatory efforts, and the calls that will shape the next decade for Spotify", he said. “Gustav and Alex will continue to report to me, and we will work closely together with our Board of Directors".
He also added that this move will allow him to focus on his other businesses.
“A personal note on what’s next for me. I am often asked, ‘How do we build more Spotifys out of Europe?’ That’s why several years ago, I announced my intention to help create more of these supercompanies — companies that are developing new technologies to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time", Ek said.
Such business ventures include his investment company, Prima Materia, which led a €600million (£524million) investment into Helsing, who are a Munich-based company creating drones and artificial intelligence for military operations. See Ek's post in full here.
Last month, The Weeknd's track 'Blinding Lights' became the first track to reach five billion streams on Spotify. More on this from Nova here.
