LONDON: Spotify said Tuesday that founder Daniel Ek is stepping down as CEO to become the executive chairman, in an announcement that sent its shares sliding in premarket trading. The Stockholm-based streaming giant said Ek will be replaced by two lieutenants who will become co-CEOs: Chief Product and Technology Officer Gustav S&ouml;derstr&ouml;m and Chief Business Officer Alex Norstr&ouml;m. The pair, who are also currently copresidents, will transition into their new jobs on January 1 and will report to Ek.&nbsp;Spotify said in a press release that the move &ldquo;formalizes&quot; how Spotify has been operating since 2023, with S&ouml;derstr&ouml;m and Norstr&ouml;m largely leading strategic development and operational execution.&nbsp;Ek said that he had already &ldquo;turned over a large part of the day-to-day management and strategic direction&rdquo; to the pair.&nbsp;&ldquo;This change simply matches titles to how we already operate,&rdquo; he said. As executive chairman, Ek said he will focus on Spotify&#39;s &ldquo;long arc.&rdquo;&nbsp;In an online question and answer session following the announcement, Ek said his new role would not be a ceremonial one that investors with a &ldquo;US perspective&rdquo; might expect.&nbsp;In Europe, an executive chairman is typically &ldquo;quite active in the business,&quot; and acts as a representative to &ldquo;certain stakeholders&rdquo; such as governments, he said.&nbsp;Ek said he still sees growth opportunities, including a &ldquo;huge part of the world that&rsquo;s really not accustomed to streaming&rdquo; stretching from Asia to Africa, as well as new technology, including artificial intelligence.&nbsp;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna keep pushing for us to look around the corner, stay focused on the long term,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Since Ek founded Spotify about two decades ago, the platform&#39;s rise has helped transformed the music business and paved the way for modern streaming. Spotify now has more than 700 million subscribers and a library of more than 100 million songs, 7 million podcast titles and 350,000 audiobooks.&nbsp;Spotify shares, which have doubled in the past year, fell more than 3% in premarket trading after the announcement.

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Spotify founder Daniel Ek is stepping down as CEO to become executive chairman, with Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström named co-CEOs. The move formalizes leadership since 2023, sending Spotify shares down over 3% premarket.

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Spotify founder steps down from CEO role