Spotify appoints co-CEOs as founder Daniel Ek ‘transitions’ to chair

Sept. 30 (UPI) — Spotify announced Tuesday its founder Daniel Ek will step down as CEO in order for the role to be co-filled by another executive of the streaming platform.

Current company co-President Gustav Soderstrom, who also sits as Spotify’s chief product and tech officer, will take over as co-CEO with current co-CEO and Chief Business Officer Alex Nordstrom.

“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 letter.

Soderstrom and Norstrom both are expected to sit on the Sweden-based company’s board of directors, pending shareholder approval, and will report to Ek, who said he will transition to the position of Spotify’s executive chairman.

Ek said the two have “shaped the company from our earliest days and are now more than ready to guide our next phase. This change simply matches titles to how we already operate,” he continued.

In 2006, Ek founded Spotify and has sat on the board since July 2008.

Spotify, with offices in New York City, said the leadership shakeup “formalizes how Spotify has successfully operated since 2023 with the co-presidents largely leading strategic development and operational execution of Spotify.”

It added Ek’s new executive chair role will “more closely reflect a European chairman setup.”

This follows a recent business trend of companies putting up two chiefs versus one full-time figurehead, such as the recent announcements by software giant Oracle and media conglomerate Comcast.

“The board has been working closely with Daniel on the evolution of Spotify’s leadership structure for several years,” according to Woody Marshall, the Spotify board’s lead independent director.

“We have tremendous confidence in Alex and Gustav as they step into these roles,” he added.

On Tuesday, the two new company co-CEOS stated how they’ve worked together for a number of years and seen Spotify “through many different chapters.”

“Nearly three years ago, when we stepped into our roles as co-Presidents, we charged our teams with relentlessly focusing on building the best and most valuable experience available anywhere and that ambition hasn’t changed,” Soderstrom and Norstrom said in a joint statement.

“While we bring different experiences and perspectives to the CEO role, we both have a strong bias to action and can’t wait to get started knowing that we will have Daniel’s full partnership and ongoing support.”