After nearly two decades, Spotify’s founder Daniel Ek has announced he will be stepping down as CEO
He wrote to his team first. A note that felt like a handoff, not an exit. Daniel Ek, who has spent nearly 20 years turning a scrappy idea into a global giant, says he’ll step down as CEO and move to executive chairman on January 1, 2026.
“I’ve spent twenty years, nearly my entire adult life, as Spotify’s CEO” says Ek, 42. “I’m ready to go from a player to a coach.”
Now longtime lieutenants, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, will run Spotify together as co-CEOs, formalizing the way the company has quietly operated for years.
This isn’t a retreat for Ek. For years, he has handed more decisions to Gustav and Alex. They ran point on product, pricing, and creator tools while he focused further out – where to place capital, how to expand, and which technologies to back.
Investors did what investors do when a founder changes seats, shares dipped as the market digested the change, but the message was continuity over chaos.
So what changes? Day to day, perhaps less than headlines suggest.
Ek’s next chapter points towards new markets in Asia and Africa, and developing tools powered by artificial intelligence to deepen how people discover and creators earn. He is moving to the top deck, helping Spotify explore opportunities beyond the immediate horizon. Whilst the operators he trained will take the wheel.
In a founder-led company growing into its next act, this is a baton pass, not a curtain call.
