Why Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Is Stepping Down After Nearly Two Decades

Forbes

Daniel Ek, the billionaire founder of the $150 billion music streamer, is exiting Spotify’s top role as he is increasingly backing moonshot tech companies out to solve the world’s toughest problems.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2025/09/30/why-spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-is-stepping-down-after-nearly-two-decades/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, why Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is stepping down after nearly two decades.

00:08Daniel Ek is stepping down as CEO of Spotify, the streaming company he co-founded in 2006,

00:14and moving to executive chairman. In his place, Spotify's current presidents Alex Nordstrom

00:20and Gustav Sergerstrom will be elevated to co-CEOs. The transition will take place on

00:27January 1, 2026. The 42-year-old Ek says, quote, I've spent 20 years, nearly my entire adult life,

00:35as Spotify's CEO. I'm ready to go from a player to a coach.

00:41Spotify has been quietly working on the transition for years. In 2023, Ek promoted Nordstrom and

00:48Sergerstrom to the roles of co-presidents to expand their power and provide them with more

00:52leadership experience. Nordstrom and Sergerstrom each worked at several startups before joining

00:59Spotify more than a decade ago. Nordstrom has historically handled business, marketing,

01:05and content. Sergerstrom, a trained engineer, has focused on the technology and product side of

01:11the streamer. Ek, meanwhile, will assume the new role of executive chairman and says he'll work

01:16on long-term strategy and key investments. Ek is leaving Spotify's CEO role on a high note.

01:24Over the last year, Spotify shares have surged 100%, compared to the S&P 500's 16% gain.

01:32Its market cap tops $150 billion, with the stock hovering around its all-time peak.

01:38As shares climb, so does Ek's personal fortune. Forbes estimates that Ek, a college dropout from the

01:44rough Stockholm neighborhood of Ragved, now has a net worth of $10.3 billion.

01:51Today, Spotify offers around 100 million songs to nearly 700 million active users,

01:58276 million of whom are paying subscribers. In 2024, Spotify's revenue topped $18.36 billion.

02:08Spotify's growth has helped revive a flatlining music industry, which was once plagued by illegal

02:13piracy. In 2011, the same year Spotify debuted in U.S. markets, the music recording industry's

02:20revenue was around $15 billion, 40% less than the $24 billion in sales it logged 10 years earlier.

02:28Fast forward to 2025, thanks to streamers like Spotify, annual recording sales are near $30 billion,

02:35with streaming accounting for $20 billion of the total. Spotify pays 70% of its revenue to musicians

02:42and rights holders. In 2024, it paid out $10 billion. The soon-to-be CEOs, Nordstrom and Sergerstrom,

02:52aim to further grow Spotify's user and revenue numbers, with a special focus on expanding into

02:57the emerging tech markets across Africa and Asia. Nordstrom says,

03:03We have now hit 3% of the world's population subscribing to Spotify. It's not so unimaginable

03:09to think that we could have 10%, 15% of the world's population subscribing to Spotify.

03:16Meanwhile, tech chief Gustav Sergerstrom is betting AI will create significant change and opportunity

03:22in how people consume music. He says, quote,

03:26It's similar to the shift to smartphones. User interactions will change and means there are

03:31new distribution opportunities, maybe even new form factors.

03:36Ek's move to exit the CEO role comes as he is increasingly looking beyond the music industry.

03:42In 2021, Ek, with Shaquille Kahn, an early Spotify investor and longtime confidant,

03:47launched a $1 billion investment holding company called Prima Materia to invest in high-risk,

03:53high-reward technology out of Europe. Ek says, quote,

03:57It's a company that builds companies. We are trying to do things traditional VCs aren't set up to do,

04:03industries where investors can't go or where the timeline doesn't make sense.

04:08One of the first long-term bets was Neko, a health screening startup Ek launched via Prima Materia

04:14in 2018. The Neko team spent seven years creating hardware that could quickly test for skin cancer

04:20and heart disease before bringing the product to market. In January 2025, Neko raised a $260 million

04:29Series B round from venture capitalists including Lightspeed, General Catalyst,

04:34Lake Star, and Atomico. With a $1.8 billion post-money valuation, the deal made Neko

04:42Ek's second unicorn startup. Ek is also investing in defense technology. Today, he serves as chairman

04:49of German startup Helsing, which began as a software company using artificial intelligence

04:54to analyze military and battlefield data. It has since evolved into a hardware company,

05:00developing AI-powered military drones and submarines. Think the European Anderil.

05:05In July 2025, Ek's Prima Materia led a €600 million investment round in the startup.

05:14The investment has caused a small minority of artists to threaten to pull their music from

05:18Spotify. Few have. For full coverage, check out Stephen Bertoni's piece on Forbes.com.

05:27This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

05:35I want to see you soon.

05:41I like to see you soon.

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