Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek will resign to take on the position of CEO from January 2026. This is considered an important turning point for the world's largest music streaming platform as it enters a long-term growth period.
According to the official announcement yesterday Tuesday, Spotify appointed two long-time leaders, Gustav Soderstrom and Alex Norstrom, as co-celebrity, while Daniel Ek will focus on capital allocation and long-term strategy planning.
The company called this a European-style presidency model, emphasizing the role of consulting and orienting instead of direct governance.
The change in leadership comes as Spotify continues to expand strongly to the podcast and hardtop content segment, but also faces the pressure of balancing growth and profits. Spotify shares fell 3.4% in the pre-opening session immediately after the news.
Founded in 2006, Spotify currently has more than 600 million monthly active users in 180 countries. After many years of focusing on expanding scale, the company will report interest for the first time in 2024, thanks to a combination of increasing subscriber prices and cost-cutting measures.
Sharing about his decision to leave the CEO's chair, Daniel Ek said: "Spotify has been profitable for more than a year and is in a great position. I will continue to participate deeply in important strategic decisions and accompany Gustav and Alex in the company's long-term development journey.
Daniel Ek, 41, is considered one of the most outstanding technology entrepreneurs in Europe, who has transformed Spotify from a startup in Sweden into a rare global consumer technology company to compete fairly with giants like Apple or Amazon in the digital music industry.
With a new leadership duo and Ek in a strategic role, Spotify is expected to maintain its leading position, while finding a sustainable growth model in the increasingly fierce streaming market.
