Daniel Ek, founder and CEO of Spotify, will be attending Cannes Lions 2016 on June 22, 2016 in Cannes, France.
Antoine Antonior | Getty Images
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek will step down from his position and move to the role of executive chairman, the company said Tuesday.
Spotify shares fell 6% after the announcement.
EK, which co-founded the streaming platform in 2006, will be replaced by the co-CEOS on behalf of its current co-chairman and longtime executives Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, the company said in the release. The transition will take place on January 1, 2026.
“In the past few years I have handed over the majority of my day-to-day management and Spotify’s strategic direction to Alex and Gustav. “This change simply matches the way the title is run.”
EK said his new role will focus on steering the company’s long-term strategy and providing support to senior teams.
“To be able to lead Spotify for nearly 20 years has been a once-in-a-lifetime honor,” Ek said in the X-Post.
According to Forbes, EK, which currently has a net worth of $9.8 billion, is leading the streaming giant to its current market capitalization of $140 billion.
Launched in 2008, Spotify offers over 100 million tracks, boasting 696 million users and 276 million subscribers, up 11% and 12% respectively from a year ago.
The company said in its second quarter revenue report that it expects NET to add 14 million active users and 5 million net premium subscribers this quarter, even if the price hikes announced in August are added.
Spotify spotify ~ Stock Chart of dates.
In September, the price rose to 11.99 euros ($14.08 USD) from 10.99 euros ($12.90 USD) for premium subscribers in markets including South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region to 11.99 euros ($14.08 USD).
The company reported total revenue of 41.9 billion euros in the second quarter, an increase of 10% year-on-year, but LSEG estimates missed 42.6 billion euros.
A question was raised about the advertising business, and revenues fell by about 1% from a year ago.
Spotify is cracking down on artificial intelligence “slops” under the growing threat of AI-generated music going viral.
Streaming Juggernaut has rolled out an updated policy to reduce 75 million AI spam tracks over the past 12 months and protect against harmful AI use, the company said in a release last week.
Spotify stock has grown 54% since the start of the year.
