Spotify said Tuesday that its founder, Daniel Ek, will step down as chief executive by the end of the year and transition to executive chairman.
The streaming giant appointed two long-serving executives as co-CEOs: Gustav Söderström, chief product and technology officer, and Alex Norström, 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,” Ek said in a statement. “This change simply matches titles to how we already operate.”
Ek, who has led Spotify since founding it in 2006, said he will focus on long-term strategy and maintaining close ties between the board and the co-CEOs. He noted in a post on X that Spotify has been profitable for over a year.
Outside Spotify, Ek co-founded health startup Neko in 2018 and investment firm Prima Materia in 2021.
