Overview

• Effective January 1, 2026, Ek shifts to executive chairman while Söderström and Norström become co-CEOs reporting to him, with their board seats pending shareholder approval.
• Ek says his role will follow a European-style chairman model focused on capital allocation, long-term strategy and regulatory engagement rather than day-to-day operations.
• Spotify shares fell roughly 3% to 4% in U.S. premarket trading after the leadership announcement.
• The company underscores its scale with about 696–700 million users, 276 million subscribers, over 100 million tracks, nearly 7 million podcast titles and around 350,000 audiobooks.
• The transition comes after Spotify’s first full profitable year in 2024 and continuing reputational tensions over Ek’s Helsing investment that led some artists to pull their catalogs.