Music streaming giant Spotify said on Tuesday that its founder, Daniel Ek, is stepping down as CEO and will become the company’s executive chairman by the year’s end.
The company is replacing Ek with two co-CEOs chosen in house: Gustav Söderström, co-president, and chief product and technology officer; and Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer.
“Over the last few years, I’ve turned over a large part of the day-to-day management and strategic direction of Spotify to Alex and Gustav–who have shaped the company from our earliest days and are now more than ready to guide our next phase,” Ek said in a statement. “This change simply matches titles to how we already operate. In my role as Executive Chairman, I will focus on the long arc of the company and keep the Board and our co-CEOs deeply connected through my engagement.”
In a post on X, Ek also mentioned that Spotify has been profitable for over a year.
Ek has served as Spotify’s CEO since he founded it in 2006, so this is a big change in leadership for the streaming giant.
Ek in 2018 also co-founded a body scanning health startup called Neko, which raised $260 million in Series B funding at a $1.8 billion post-money valuation earlier this year. He also runs an investment company called Prima Materia, which he founded in 2021 alongside Spotify investor Shakil Khan.
