Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek sold another $27.6 million worth of company shares on Wednesday (April 2), continuing his pattern of share sales that started in mid-2023.
The transaction, disclosed in an SEC filing, involved 50,000 shares sold at Tuesday’s (April 1) closing price of $551.73 per share.
As of Wednesday, shares of New York-listed Spotify have grown 109.7% over the past year, outpacing the S&P 500 Index, which was up by 8.9% YoY as of Wednesday.
Since the start of the year, Ek has been selling shares every two weeks, taking his cumulative cash-outs in 2025 alone to over $211 million. His previous stock sale was on March 19 when he divested 50,000 shares for $28.5 million.
The latest sale on Tuesday marks Ek’s 17th since July 2023, and brings his total earnings from share sales to $751.6 million, including the $376 million sold in 2024 alone, according to MBW calculations.
- In July 2023, Ek sold 675,000 shares for USD $100 million;
- In October 2023, he sold 400,000 shares for $64.2 million;
- In February 2024, Ek sold 250,000 shares for $57.5 million;
- In April 2024, Ek sold 400,000 shares for $118.8 million;
- In November 2024, Ek sold 75,000 shares for $35.8 million;
- In November 2024, Ek sold another 75,000 shares for $34.8 million;
- In November 2024, Ek sold 75,000 shares again, this time for $36.1 million;
- In December 2024, Ek sold another 75,000 shares for $37 million;
- Also in December 2024, Ek sold 60,000 shares for $28.3 million;
- And again in December, Ek sold 60,000 shares for $27.2 million;
- In January 2025, Ek sold 60,000 shares for $27.8 million;
- Also in January 2025, Ek sold 60,000 shares for $29.3 million;
- In February 2025, Ek sold 60,000 shares for $37.3 million;
- And again in February 2025, Ek sold 50,000 shares for $31.5 million;
- In March 2025, Ek sold 50,000 shares for $29.2 million;
- Also in March 2025, Ek sold 50,000 shares for $28.5 million;
- In April 2025, EK sold 50,000 shares for $27.6 million.
Despite offloading his shares in the streaming giant, Ek still holds a significant control over Spotify with a 14.3% ownership stake that carries 29.1% voting power as of the end of 2024, according to SPOT’s latest 20-F filing in February. Spotify co-founder Martin Lorentzon, meanwhile, holds a 9.8% stake in the company with 41.6% voting control.
Lorentzon has also sold a portion of his holdings in SPOT, offloading a total of $556.8 million in Spotify stock last year through his holding company Rosello Co. Ltd.
Together, the Spotify co-founders have so far sold $1.31 billion in Spotify shares.
As MBW previously pointed out, Ek has forgone a traditional salary since July 2017 in favor of a performance-based bonus scheme tied to growth metrics.
The company has consistently grown its subscriber base, achieving its first full year of operating profitability in 2024. SPOT’s global Premium Subscriber base grew 11% YoY in Q4 2024 to 263 million paying users. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, its paying subs rose 4% from Q3 2024.
As a result, SPOT’s operating income reached a record high of €477 million ($509.48m) in Q4, driving the company’s first full year of operating income profitability to €1.4 billion ($1.495bn).
“I am very excited about 2025 and feel really good about where we are as both a product and as a business,” Ek said when the company’s 2024 results came out.
Since the start of 2025, Spotify continued rolling out a number of features aimed at attracting more users and retaining existing ones. Later this month, SPOT is set to extend access to its partner monetization program for audio and video content creators to nine more markets.
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