Spotify founder Daniel Ek to step down as chief executive

Getty ImagesSpotify founder Daniel Ek is planning to formally step down from the function of chief government after twenty years on the helm of the music streaming big. The corporate stated the 42-year-old would get replaced by his two deputies on the finish of the 12 months, whereas he stays on as government chairman, setting long-term technique for the agency. It stated the association would formalise how the corporate has operated since 2023, when Mr Ek turned over a big portion of day-to-day administration. In a letter to employees, Mr Ek stated he would stay “deeply concerned” in huge choices involving the agency, one among Europe’s most profitable know-how companies, boasting greater than 700 million month-to-month customers globally. When it was based in Sweden in 2006, Spotify stated it aimed to handle widespread piracy points that had been plaguing the music trade, utilizing promoting and cash from subscriptions to pay rights holders for music fashionable on the platform.Its grip on listeners has grown because it expanded into podcasts and audio books, although the agency’s dominance has prompted frequent clashes with musicians, who’ve criticised its fee practices.The corporate’s rise has additionally turned Mr Ek right into a billionaire, with a fortune of about $10bn. He has ploughed a few of these riches right into a European enterprise capital agency, which has backed companies resembling Germany’s Helsing, which develops weapons techniques powered by synthetic intelligence. This funding in Helsing, which Ek additionally leads as government chairman, prompted some artists, together with Deerhoof and Huge Assault, to launch a boycott of Spotify earlier this 12 months. Saying its determination final month, Huge Assault stated Spotify had lengthy positioned an “financial burden” on artists, which was “now compounded by a ethical and moral burden, whereby the hard-earned cash of followers and the inventive endeavours of musicians in the end funds deadly, dystopian applied sciences”.”Sufficient is greater than sufficient,” the band stated.Spotify stated the choice by Mr Ek to face down had been within the works earlier than the latest controversy and was not associated.The transfer will elevate co-presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, who’ve every been with the corporate for greater than 15 years and had taken on enhanced tasks two years in the past. Mr Söderström at present serves as chief product and know-how officer, whereas Mr Norström is the agency’s chief enterprise officer. Saying the choice, Mr Ek stated the change “merely matches titles to how we already function”.The co-chief executives will proceed to report back to him, and Mr Ek stated he anticipated to stay extra concerned as government chairman than is typical at American companies, reflecting what the corporate described as a extra European method.”For many of you, little or no will change,” he wrote within the letter to employees.”What modifications is my time and focus. As government chairman, I’ll spend extra of my time on the lengthy arc: technique, capital allocation, regulatory efforts and the calls that can form the subsequent decade for Spotify.”Shares sank greater than 4% in opening commerce after information of the choice, which can come into impact on the finish of the 12 months.