Daniel Ek to Step Down as Spotify CEO on January 1

Spotify announced that founder Daniel Ek will step down as CEO on January 1 and transition to a new Executive Chairman role. Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, who currently serve the company as co-presidents, will assume the role of co-CEO, and both will report directly to Ek and join the Spotify board.

“I always believed that Spotify could play an important role in revolutionizing listening around the world, and with more than 700 million users, we’ve truly charted a new course bringing creativity to every corner of the globe,” Mr. Ek said. “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, who 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. In my role as Executive Chairman, I will focus on the long arc of the company and keep the Board and our co-CEOs deeply connected through my engagement.”

Earlier, Ek had emailed Spotify’s employees to notify them about the change. In that message, he wrote that moving on to Executive Chairman was simply his “next mission” and that he would now shift his focus a bit.

“As Executive Chairman, I will spend more of my time on the long arc: strategy, capital allocation, regulatory efforts and the calls that will shape the next decade for Spotify,” he told them. “This approach reflects a European Chairman setup, which is quite different from a traditional U.S. one that many of you might be familiar with. This also means I will be more hands on than some of my U.S. peers who have a Chairman title.”

Ek says the time is right for this transition because Söderström and Norström have proven over the past year that they can handle day-to-day operations. Plus, Spotify just delivered its first full year of profitability, providing a good base for the new co-CEOs.

He also left employees with an interesting note about some of the other things he wants to focus on going forward.

“A personal note on what’s next for me,” the message continues. “I am often asked, ‘How do we build more Spotifys out of Europe?’ That’s why several years ago, I announced my intention to help create more of these supercompanies—companies that are developing new technologies to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. I’ll share more about how I’ll put some of my builder energy there. But today is about Spotify.”