Spotify founder Daniel Ek has announced that he will be stepping down from the role of CEO.

 

Ek founded the streaming service two decades ago and has been CEO since. He announced today that he will be transitioning to an executive chairman role for the company on January 1, 2026.

 

Taking his place as co-CEOs will be Spotify co-presidents Alex Norström and Gustav Söderström. The former currently serves as the company's chief business officer, while Söderström leads Spotify's product and technology unit.

 

"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," Ek said in his statement. "Gustav and Alex will continue to report to me, and we will work closely together with our Board of Directors."

 

He added that the move has been made to allow him to shift his focus towards other businesses.

 

"A personal note on what's next for me. I am often asked, 'How do we build more Spotify's 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," he added.

 

https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-09-30/daniel-ek-letter-evolving-how-we-lead

Give us a year free to mourn the loss.

A massive damage control effort has likely been underway within the company for months, ever since he announced his €600 million investment in a military AI defense company. Now this appears to be the result.

Edited September 30, 2025Sep 30 by Daytona

6 minutes ago, Daytona said:

"A personal note on what's next for me. I am often asked, 'How do we build more Spotify's 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," he added.

The biggest challenges of our time being how to kill more people without anyone noticing looking at his investments 

1 minute ago, Ryusei said:

The biggest challenges of our time being how to kill more people without anyone noticing looking at his investments 

What I found completely idiotic was him using this excuse to probably try to cover up the real investment he has made during these months. "Create more of these supercompanies"... with military weapons?

He did his job by making sure Cardi album flopped miserably on his platform. We thank him for his services.

10 minutes ago, Daytona said:

A massive damage control effort has likely been underway within the company for months, ever since he announced his €600 million investment in a military AI defense company. Now this appears to be the result.

yeah thought the same, but he is still involved so it kinda means nothing, no\? 

Just now, Mariano said:

yeah thought the same, but he is still involved so it kinda means nothing, no\? 

Exactly, lol.

it's all a public facade

Meh

Hmmm this usually means certain artists/labels that had a close relationship with the previous ceo will suffer. I wonder which ones... 

Nothing changes 

4 hours ago, Pavement Princess said:

He did his job by making sure Cardi album flopped miserably on his platform

No job required chile, it was all organic