Why Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek Is Stepping Down as CEO

Spotify founder Daniel Ek shifts focus to defence and health tech

When Daniel Ek founded Spotify (SPOT.N) in 2006, a viable music product was a "moon shot." The global music industry was struggling with years of declining sales, online music piracy was rampant, and services like Apple's (AAPL.O) iTunes were pricey. Ek, then a 23-year-old coder, believed if access to music was as easy as turning on a tap - in a way that was legal and fair to artists - users would come. The key was streaming, not downloads, an i…

Spotify founder Daniel Ek shifts away from music streamer to focus on building more ‘supercompanies’

When Daniel Ek founded Spotify in 2006, a viable music product was a “moon shot”. The global music industry was struggling with years of declining sales, online music piracy was rampant, and services like Apple’s iTunes were pricey.

The rise of the bro co-CEO

Yesterday, Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek announced that he’ll be stepping down in the new year. Two of his top executives, Gustav Söderström, chief product and technology officer, and Alex Norström, chief business officer, will take over as co-CEOs in his place. With that news, the music streamer became the third company to choose the co-CEO route within the space of just over a week. A few days earlier, on Sept. 29, Comcast said that its si…

Why Spotify Co-Founder Daniel Ek Is Stepping Down as CEO

The streaming giant’s chief business officer and chief product and technology officer will become co-CEOs.