Editor’s note: The original October 2022 version of this article was lost. The Lee Daily Register rebuilt it in October 2026 from the sources cited below, and added what happened afterward. The original version put Daniel Ek’s net worth at $5 billion in 2022 and said Spotify was valued at $2.6 billion when it went public. Neither was accurate. Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.9 billion in September 2022, and Spotify’s market value was about $27 billion after its first day of trading in 2018.
Daniel Ek, the Swedish co-founder and chief executive of Spotify, is a billionaire. Forbes estimated his real-time net worth at $1.9 billion as of Sept. 26, according to an archived copy of his Forbes profile.
Forbes updates that figure as Spotify’s share price moves, so it can change from one trading day to the next. Forbes lists Spotify as the source of his wealth.
How much of Spotify he controls
Ek owns nearly 9% of Spotify’s shares, Forbes says, but a dual-class structure gives him far more say than that stake suggests.
Spotify’s most recent annual report, filed with the SEC in February, spells out the details. As of Dec. 31, 2021, a company Ek owns indirectly held about 14.1 million ordinary shares. Through those shares, beneficiary certificates and a proxy over shares owned by Tencent entities, Ek controlled 31.9% of the company’s combined voting power. Co-founder Martin Lorentzon controlled 42.5%, giving the two founders 74.4% together, according to the filing.
Ek and Lorentzon founded Spotify in Sweden in 2006 and launched the service in 2008. In September 2021, Ek pledged to invest 1 billion euros in European technology and co-founded the venture firm Prima Materia, Forbes reported.
A $27 billion debut
Spotify went public through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange on April 3, 2018. Its shares closed that day at $149.01, giving the company a market value of about $27 billion, according to FactSet figures reported by the Associated Press.
The Arsenal bid
In 2021, Ek said he wanted to buy Arsenal, the London soccer club he grew up supporting. The club’s owners, the Kroenke family, said in April 2021 that they had received no offer and were not selling any stake, CBS Sports reported.
Ek then said on Twitter that he had made an offer to Josh Kroenke and the family’s bankers that included fan ownership, board representation and a golden share for supporters. He said they replied that they did not need the money. The bid was believed to be about 1.8 billion pounds, the Telegraph reported in a story published by Yahoo Sports.
What happened next
By Nov. 5, 2022, Forbes had lowered its estimate of Ek’s net worth to $1.6 billion, an archived copy of the profile shows.
On Sept. 30, 2025, Spotify announced that Ek would step down as chief executive and become executive chairman on Jan. 1, 2026. Co-presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström were named co-CEOs. The company said the change formalized how it had operated since 2023, with Ek focusing on capital allocation and long-term strategy, according to its announcement.
The estimate has since risen sharply. Forbes put Ek’s real-time net worth at $13.3 billion as of Oct. 24, 2026. Forbes also lists him as a co-founder of Neko Health, a Stockholm-based preventive medical scan company that raised $700 million at a $7 billion valuation in 2026.
